Last Comic Standing season 6 winner Iliza Shlesinger makes her major league debut with War Paint and she brings the energy in spades. Looking like Stephanie from Full House who never grew out of a college punk rock phase, she seems in her element here. I remember when she appeared as a guest comic on the season finale of LCS's 7th season, which they were treating as a formal event, and, as such, she wore a dress that she looked so uncomfortable in that it distracted from her set. It was partially because Iliza's a bit of a tomboy and her comedy could be described the same way. While she's been effective in smaller doses, you find yourself checking the time as the show drags on with her dolphin/sheep vocal effect beginning to grate fairly quickly. She does have some decent material that works well with her persona and her confidence and swagger are engaging, so she has plenty to work with as she develops. One feels she might have a few good sets in her.
15 Reviews
A Decent Start
Kaptain_Bluddflagg20 July 2018
This was the first time I had seen anything from Iliza, and overall it shows that she DOES have talent, but her act clearly needed work. It's aged reasonably well, but there are some longer bits that just aren't funny (the pharmacy witch) and seem to drag on.
It's worth watching, but there are better specials out there.
It's worth watching, but there are better specials out there.
Could've been much better
Bruce72226 December 2013
Iliza Shlesinger's stand-up special is one of the better female stand-ups around. She is able to deliver laugh after laugh without resorting to the same sexist or sexual content that so many other women seem to resort to in order to be successful. The only weak part, in my opinion at least, was that she seemed to use way too much vocal sound effects. Sure, sometimes it actually added to the bit or the punchline but more times than not it just detracted from it. It actually got somewhat annoying at times as well. It seemed to me that she had never run that by people because I'd imagine someone would've told her something. Nonetheless, the material is great but the execution could've been better.
Smart, funny, observational comedy
sparilis13 September 2020
Iliza Shlesinger is a breath of fresh air. She delivers quick-witted, observational humor, interspersed with rapid-fire stream of consciousness references that can be a challenge to keep up with so keep that remote handy because you might need to rewind every once in a while. As for the "goat" noises, here is my take on that. They are sheep noises, not goat noises. Why does that matter? Because, I noticed that when she does them, she is making fun of people who don't think for themselves, i.e., sheep. I'm only giving her 6 stars because her later shows are so much better. Check out Elder Millennial.
No more goat! Please!
PepperCat1 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Possible spoiler alert:
Some funny stuff but please, for the love of God, stop that goat noise. I love standup and have seen many of the greats and she could be very good...but the noises are both annoying and unfunny.
Plus some of the routines go on a little too long. The pharmacist one...not funny.
She has, otherwise, good timing and delivery. Her stuff about girls going out on the town is pretty funny.
Her dog is very adorable.
So in summary: pretty good. But...goat=bad! dog=good!
Some funny stuff but please, for the love of God, stop that goat noise. I love standup and have seen many of the greats and she could be very good...but the noises are both annoying and unfunny.
Plus some of the routines go on a little too long. The pharmacist one...not funny.
She has, otherwise, good timing and delivery. Her stuff about girls going out on the town is pretty funny.
Her dog is very adorable.
So in summary: pretty good. But...goat=bad! dog=good!
Hilarious!!
bjp2492492 October 2018
Animal noises
emeraldgoddess16 July 2018
Had to turn it off
JayDee42024 March 2014
Iliza had some good jokes but she ruined them with that super annoying horrible dolphin/goat sound she made constantly. It might have been kinda sorta funny once or twice, but it was done TO. DEATH...and then some. I tried really hard to put up with it to hear the material that I actually liked, hoping that for the love of god she would please stop making that terrible terrible sound soon, but it increased in both frequency and irritation. It made me cringe every time I heard it, so I gave up with about 15 minutes left. I couldn't handle anymore. It was just the worst sound I have ever heard. I couldn't take anymore. At a certain point the awfulness of the sound outweighed whatever humour the material had.
PLEEEEEAAAASE!!! Do MOOOOOORE goat noises!!!
Drew006217 February 2015
Iliza is awful and her routine is just plain ANNOYING. she constantly does this annoying goat noise that is both misplaced and ubiquitous. It's literally like she randomly breaks into an impression of Jim Breuer's Goat Boy impression from SNL. Except it's for an hour straight. For the most part they don't tie into her "jokes", but they are obnoxiously EVERYWHERE. There are a few other annoying voices/accents that she does, which she is not good at, and only take away from her "jokes". They include a surfer-type guy, a death-metal-sounding guy, an airhead girl, and a tiny elfish-sounding thing. All rival Jim Carey's EEEHEEHHHHHHH noise in Dumb and Dumber.
But just in general, the worst is that SHE IS NOT FUNNY. There's no way a professional comedian wrote them, and again, she adds the voices/accents/goat noises to spice them up. Total fail, I don't know why she is the slightest bit famous. Obviously people out there like her, or she wouldn't be. But I just can't stand her. The only thing I will say positive about her is that she has good energy on stage. Oh, and lastly, her total lack of talent takes away from the fact that she is a very good looking woman, and that's very easily overlooked, when you're cringing because of those GODD**N GOAT NOISES!!! This is a total PASS!!!!
But just in general, the worst is that SHE IS NOT FUNNY. There's no way a professional comedian wrote them, and again, she adds the voices/accents/goat noises to spice them up. Total fail, I don't know why she is the slightest bit famous. Obviously people out there like her, or she wouldn't be. But I just can't stand her. The only thing I will say positive about her is that she has good energy on stage. Oh, and lastly, her total lack of talent takes away from the fact that she is a very good looking woman, and that's very easily overlooked, when you're cringing because of those GODD**N GOAT NOISES!!! This is a total PASS!!!!
I want to like her but I just can't stand it. How can people like this humor?
giantstones29 January 2015
I have tried, I have watched her stuff. not just this one here. it;s just awful.
I would feel so cheated if I had actually bought a ticket, I feel cheated now that I have only wasted time.
It's difficult to write ten lines of things without just being horribly mean but I guess I will try. Seems to me, if you were to pick say, three other comedians from anywhere on the circuit or whatever you might call it, from any time line between 1950 and 2015 and show them to someone who has never ever seen any stand up in their entire life, that person would be able to pick out this comedian as the worst in the bunch.
Timing,material,sound effects, I mean c'mon! how did this even get to the point of going on the road? It;s like the publics being tested to see if anyone can be a stand up comedian or something. Is that what it is? I am guessing I passed and the answer is NO, they can't.
I would feel so cheated if I had actually bought a ticket, I feel cheated now that I have only wasted time.
It's difficult to write ten lines of things without just being horribly mean but I guess I will try. Seems to me, if you were to pick say, three other comedians from anywhere on the circuit or whatever you might call it, from any time line between 1950 and 2015 and show them to someone who has never ever seen any stand up in their entire life, that person would be able to pick out this comedian as the worst in the bunch.
Timing,material,sound effects, I mean c'mon! how did this even get to the point of going on the road? It;s like the publics being tested to see if anyone can be a stand up comedian or something. Is that what it is? I am guessing I passed and the answer is NO, they can't.
The worst of her specials
sebring-9262810 January 2024
We first saw Iliza on Netflix and loved her show. So we watched another, and enjoyed that one too. However, when we stumbled across this one we were excited but lo and behold, it was not like the others.
I agree with other reviewers; the noises and weird voices were funny but were way overdone and went on too long. After a while, we got tired of them. Actually, we found this special a bit "weird" and we eventually abandoned it.
Too bad, we did not enjoy this special anywhere near as much as the first two we watched. Sometimes too much of a good thing is a bad thing and restraint goes a lot further.
I agree with other reviewers; the noises and weird voices were funny but were way overdone and went on too long. After a while, we got tired of them. Actually, we found this special a bit "weird" and we eventually abandoned it.
Too bad, we did not enjoy this special anywhere near as much as the first two we watched. Sometimes too much of a good thing is a bad thing and restraint goes a lot further.
I'd rather watch a real goat for 1+ hours
alexafebel3 February 2023
Total waste of time. I maybe laughed once or twice at this entire set. All she does is make goat noises the whole time. Even when she uses the goat noise as a punchline or a segway into another thought/joke, she carries it on for way too long. It's just cringe-worthy.
Bottom line: Like I said in the title, watching a real goat for 1+hours would have been a more useful way to spend my time. Especially those fainting goats or the goats that ram people to knock them over. This girl makes Joey Gladstone's "cut it out" gag look like comedic genius. I'm still mad that I watched this and wasted time on this almost 2 years later.
Bottom line: Like I said in the title, watching a real goat for 1+hours would have been a more useful way to spend my time. Especially those fainting goats or the goats that ram people to knock them over. This girl makes Joey Gladstone's "cut it out" gag look like comedic genius. I'm still mad that I watched this and wasted time on this almost 2 years later.
War Paint
AngelLysh12 August 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Possible spoilers:
"War paint" is the make-up women wear when they go out into the battlefield (the club or bar) to pick up men.
If a man said this, it would be misogynist, but with a woman comedian it's okay? What about just plain wearing make-up because it makes you feel good about yourself? I know, we should leave our inner social justice warrior at the door when entering the comedy arena. Maybe I was just not into that type of stuff that day. But I could tell five minutes in that I wasn't going to be a fan.
She's good on timing and telling a story. And the animal sounds were funny for a little while (until they weren't). I actually really dug the pharmacist story. The delivery was spot on. But I just couldn't go with her ideals on women dating. Or something about being a loser in the dating world if you have a stump arm. I don't know, I turned it off at a while. She has potential, she looks good and has good timing, and some people can pull off being offensive and still be funny, but she couldn't win me over to watch the entire set.
"War paint" is the make-up women wear when they go out into the battlefield (the club or bar) to pick up men.
If a man said this, it would be misogynist, but with a woman comedian it's okay? What about just plain wearing make-up because it makes you feel good about yourself? I know, we should leave our inner social justice warrior at the door when entering the comedy arena. Maybe I was just not into that type of stuff that day. But I could tell five minutes in that I wasn't going to be a fan.
She's good on timing and telling a story. And the animal sounds were funny for a little while (until they weren't). I actually really dug the pharmacist story. The delivery was spot on. But I just couldn't go with her ideals on women dating. Or something about being a loser in the dating world if you have a stump arm. I don't know, I turned it off at a while. She has potential, she looks good and has good timing, and some people can pull off being offensive and still be funny, but she couldn't win me over to watch the entire set.
i love her
artsycutie17 July 2020
Not sure how she made it past open mic night
OneAnjel1 April 2024
Her opening is atrocious. Any comedian looking to grab the crowd needs to have material everyone can identify with. Being a frequent flyer in section D is not a common thing at all. Plus, why call someone's cousin a bidch for workng there? It's the airline, not the employees. But it gives us insight to Ilza's maturity level, or lack of it.
I ff a few times and just couldn't get on board with that nagging yelling voice. Jerry Lewis made it work but he developed a character that went with it. I found all of her material to be overly angry and sexualized (not in a good way). I've seen better female comedians on AGT: He Huang; Vicki Barbolak.
I ff a few times and just couldn't get on board with that nagging yelling voice. Jerry Lewis made it work but he developed a character that went with it. I found all of her material to be overly angry and sexualized (not in a good way). I've seen better female comedians on AGT: He Huang; Vicki Barbolak.
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