Anthony Jeselnik: Thoughts and Prayers (2015 TV Special) User Reviews

An hour of unabashed black comedy.

[lnvicta · 8/10 · 15 December 2015]

If you like black comedy, you must be familiar with Daniel Tosh and Anthony Jeselnik, and if you are, then you're well aware that they don't hold back. After seeing Thoughts and Prayers, I think I can safely say Anthony is the darkest comic out there as far as subject matter, and I love it. If you don't like dark comedy, then obviously this isn't for you, so if you're uncomfortable with dead baby jokes, sexist jokes, abortion jokes, pedophilia jokes, or world tragedy jokes, then stay the f*ck away from Anthony Jeselnik. But if those jokes don't phase you no matter the content because, you know, they're jokes, then Thoughts and Prayers is a must-see comedy special.

What makes Jeselnik's punchlines work is the fact that you don't see them coming. Even though you know he's going to say the most terrible thing possible, he somehow manages to surprise you. His demeanor also translates well with his jokes because he's one of those people that you can't really tell when they're being sarcastic or not because he says everything with a straight face. And he's fully aware that he makes politically incorrect jokes. He comments about how society is always super sensitive about one thing at a time, and he exploits the hell out of that. Seriously, it's crazy how much he gets away with here and it's kind of refreshing to see that Netflix (and pretty much everyone that allows him to continue doing shows) can actually appreciate and promote dark humor. Yay, society. The audience even gets tested A LOT, but they always find the way back to the funny side.

So basically, you should know whether or not you're the target audience for this, and if you are then I'm here to reaffirm that you should see this. If you are easily offended and give this a shot anyway, then you have no one to blame but yourself.

Great, but not for normal humans.

[poyuma · 8/10 · 30 November 2015]

This was one of the funniest yet crudest comedy shows I have ever seen. Anthony Jeselnik even warns you about how vulgar he is so don't you complain about all the dead baby jokes and mocking tragedies such as the Boston Bombing, the 911 terrorist attacks and Eric Clapton's son.

You will cringe, awkward laugh and be angry all at the same time. I think the best part of the show was seeing the audience reactions which is why they show the audience so much. Watching the men laugh at a sexist joke and the women just sit there with annoyed looks on their faces is one of the most hilarious things ever.

The one thing I love a lot in the show other than the audience reactions is Anthony's plot twist humor. He always starts telling a joke, then you THINK you know what he is going to say next but then he switches the form on you which completely get you off guard which makes me laugh a ton.

All in all, great performance by Anthony. Look forward to his future endeavors, hopefully he will do more stand-up one day...

Comedy Must Never Be Taken Too Seriously

[Lebowskidoo · 8/10 · 2 July 2020]

Anthony Jeselnik does dark, strange jokes about cancer, dead kids, child molesters, serial killers...and you laugh! Not for everybody, only if you appreciate dark humor and recognize it as just that, and not take it too seriously. Comedy must never be taken too seriously.

I'm possibly going to Hell for liking this, but at least I'll be warm and the heating bill will be non-existant. I should be in amongst weird but funny company, this is receiving good ratings.

Hilarious

[AgustinCesaratti · 10/10 · 10 November 2019]

This dude is hilarious, this one is better than the 2019 Special, I laughed very hard today, he now became one of my favorite comedians. Give it a try you will laugh very hard.

Near Perfection

[TheLazyTiger · 9/10 · 18 July 2019]

I'm not sure that all viewers will get that this is an act within an act. Yet hardcore Jeselnik fans will; and that makes his comedy that much more brilliant. My generation has only spawned two truly original and laugh out loud comedians. Jeselnik and Izzard.

You notice how good Jeselnik is doing his job from the sjw reviews in here.

[lymperopoulos · 10/10 · 3 August 2020]

Nice comedy from Jeselnik here.Dark and edgy humor not for the easily offended. Jeselnik is doing what he is doing very good and his shows are not for the easily offended! If you like this kind of comedy and you want further proof on that, scroll down to the comments (there are only 14 the moment i am posting this) and find the review of a person called "ebonybrooks", notice how much she got offended and then go watch the show ;)

BIG 10/10

Refreshing

[rdtaxes-1 · 9/10 · 3 November 2018]

Sick(ly) funny. Comedy's dark side. Not for the snowflakes. Mad me laugh from start to finish.

Maybe with a less pathetic attitude

[LeCronopio · 6/10 · 3 September 2019]

Maybe it's a relatively good material, but the pathetic attitude of bad boy of a box office movie is intolerable. I couldn't get past the 15 minute.

They are actually saying: don't forget about me...

[kokomini-93737 · 10/10 · 4 March 2022]

So much fun!

I know he is kidding, so I would not let myself get offended easily.

Word of advice: just enjoy the show!

My favorite part: When everyone is moarning about the tragedy, that's where I come in, I make people laugh! I make fun of the people that say things on social media just for attracting attention to themselves.

Pretty deep and strong

[piggyogre · 7/10 · 1 August 2021]

I would say the first 40 minutes is an ordinary stand-up comedy, but the last 20 minutes is pretty deep and strong.

Generally, i myself have always had deep doubts about political correctness, seeing it as an ideological forbidden zone more than a sort of understandable social pressure with good intentions. Because I always believe that even our most cherished and most sensitive values need to be challenged from time to time. If not, even if this kind of political correctness is correct indeed, it is as John Stuart Mill said: "Truth, thus held, is but one superstition the more, accidentally clinging to the words which enunciate a truth."

And if even comedians are not allowed to implement the challenge, then who else can?

King of flips

[nikree · 10/10 · 26 June 2021]

Funny, but not hilarious.

But those who like, could love it. You gotta have a taste for his style it seems. Everyone will enjoy, but some will find it the best.

Some thoughts

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 1/10 · 22 July 2020]

Hadn't heard of Anthony Jeselnik before watching, and really wasn't a fan of this special.

I didn't like the first 2/3s because the jokes were so repetitive. He'd say something shocking, string the audience along for a bit, and then say a concluding statement that was slightly more shocking. There was very little by way of structure or flow; it was really choppy and dull. He'd try to give the illusion that things were spontaneous by asking the audience very basic questions, but would follow the answers up with further jokes that were barely relevant.

He changes things up in the final 1/3, but that material didn't really work for me either. I might be alone or in the minority, but if you want to make fun of people who say "thoughts and prayers" (yes, please do make fun of that attitude; it's less prevalent now but I remember when it was much more common), then make fun of those people. The jokes he referenced about the cinema shooting and the Boston Marathon bombing weren't really making fun of those sorts of attention-craving people, or at least I'd understand people not seeing the connection. I mean if I'd read those tweeted jokes out of context, I'd find them pretty tasteless in all honesty.

As for the Shark Party thing... I'd never heard of it but it did annoy me. If the victim had been someone who'd murdered sharks, go ahead, make fun of him. But it feels misguided to make fun of this man's horrible death if he hadn't been part of the problem. Him being killed by a shark isn't some kind of ironic retribution, at least not in my opinion. If you want to make fun of people who murder sharks by the million, then aim the comedy elsewhere.

As a somewhat relevant sidenote, I watched a Youtube video today where someone made fun of a guy who made a public Facebook post, denying the severity of a certain virus in April and saying it was overhyped by the media, yet died of it sometime in July. That's dark too, but it can be argued that that deceased individual deserves mockery. At least there's karma; a sense of him being brought down in a darkly hilarious way.

I think overall that's my problem with this special, particularly the final 20 minutes. Punch up and punch up hard, and the cruder and more extreme to the people who deserve it, the funnier that stuff can be. There's similarly crass and brash standup comedy out there that I have enjoyed. But I don't really like where Jeselnik targets his jokes, at least not the ones he references near the end of this special. He may have good intentions, or he may have awful intentions and simply have used this special to try and explain that he had some greater purpose or some higher target beyond the victims.

I don't know, maybe I'm just not a fan. Despite not enjoying it, I'm glad I watched it, because it's made me think more about what I find funny and why, but the humour in this just really wasn't for me. If I've missed the point, or overlooked some detail, I apologise. These are just my immediate thoughts (but no prayers) after watching this, and I had to get them out there.

There's Irreverent.. and then there's Anthony Jeselnik

[kamille · 2/10 · 29 September 2020]

I am not easily offended by off-color humor. I thought Sarah Silverman's irreverent Jesus Is Magic comedy special was hilarious. And the acerbic Bill Hicks was absolute genius. You can make fun of women, find humor in any nationality or ethnicity (to a point), you can poke fun of religions, you can mimic a surly teenager.. But you do NOT make a joke about Eric Clapton's little boy who died in a tragic accident! That is not funny. That is cruel. You can put any kind of spin on it, dress it up and put on the label of your choice.. but the only thing that "joke" was, was cruel! This so-called comic used just about the most heartbreaking thing he could think of as an opportunistic vehicle to establish himself as the crudest comedian on the circuit. Well congratulations Tony, you win the blue ribbon!

Cringe humor has lost its humor part

[b4blue · 4/10 · 25 November 2015]

I didn't know that cringe humor can have too much cringe, but Anthony made me realize this. I really love humor without limitations, well I though I could handle everything until this one. That was just cringe and cringe and cringe. He is the master of cringe that wanted to always be at the top. So much that he lost the humor part. I really liked his comedy series, from last year or the year before that, but this is just too much. Can he even go back now? I doubt that he can. When you go to 11 its very hard to go back to elegant 8. He still is one of people that I follow through career, so I sincerely hope he will find his way through this.

Not funny

[conormclav · 1/10 · 3 May 2019]

This style of dark, edgy, quick fire jokes comedy is never funny. It gets boring very quickly.. You stop believing what the performer is saying.

SUCKS

[randy-39640 · 1/10 · 1 May 2019]

This guy sucks! I can't believe I watched this stupid trash. OMG!!

Disgraceful

[ebonybrooks · 1/10 · 28 May 2018]

I did not like this stand up comedy. I had to cut it off after the child molestation and child harming jokes. I mustered up the nerve to continue watching after he joked about the baby in the hot car in Cali. Then there was the child molestation/child sex offender jokes I disagreed with. I am sure he is not a terrible guy and may have looked at his jokes from a different point of view but from my point of view, and being a Victim's Advocate for Sexual Assaults, I find this very inappropriate even for adults. I would edit this stand up comedy, as I find it offensive and harmful in nature. With all the sexual assault cases being Brought up in Hollywood (and they are just as important now than ever) this is not the show that should be representing anyone right now. This is the type of things that are allowed because it comes from a man, yet had this been a female comedian with these same jokes, this show would have not even made it to the TV or any major network, but because he is a male, he can get. pass. This is unacceptable and VERY disgraceful comedy. There is a difference between dark comedy and just plain ol ignorant.

dark af

[aslisali-64788 · 2/10 · 20 June 2021]

I agree that dark comedy must not be taken serious but this show had me feel offensiveness in my bones. I don't think this is something i would ever want to be encountered again.