Netflix is no stranger to comedy, but they've upped their game by announcing four exclusive new comedy specials that will begin streaming in the next few months. (Take that, werewolf soap opera!) The biggest name on the list is BIll Cosby, whose latest hour of stand-up is scheduled to fall somewhere in between performances by the stellar comics Jim Jefferies, Bill Burr, Chelsea Peretti and Chelsea Handler, whose special was previously announced. Watch out, Comedy Central.
Last month, Cosby taped Bill Cosby 77 at the SF Jazz Center in San Francisco to celebrate his own 77th birthday. The comedian, whose upcoming NBC pilot recently starting moving forward, can be seen telling his latest batch of stories when the hour-long engagement hits the streaming service just after midnight on Friday, November 28. Bill Cosby at 77, directed by Robert Townsend, follows last year’s Bill Cosby: Far From Finished, his first trip back up on the stand-up stage in 30 years.
Chelsea Handler will be moving to a more permanent place on Netflix’s schedule when her new talk show debuts in 2016, but Uganda Be Kidding Me Live will be the first of four docucomedies she’s releasing in between now and then. The special is set to hit Netflix on Friday, October 10, around a month and a half after her E! series Chelsea Lately airs its final episode on August 26. (Have you seen her Instagram promotional pic?)
Jim Jefferies, whose riotous FX series Legit was recently cancelled (and has its first season now on Netflix), will premiere his newest stand-up Jim Jefferies: BARE on Friday, August 29. Filmed in Boston’s Wilbur Theatre, this special is in TWO WEEKS, people! I’m a huge Jefferies fan – not that I dislike anyone on this list in the least – but every one of his specials has been pure gold. One of them is on Netflix now. Find it.
Bill Burr (Breaking Bad) is just as good at Jefferies at elevating depressing material to darkly hilarious heights. His latest offering, I’m Sorry You Feel That Way, was taped at Atlanta’s Tabernacle and will hit Netflix on Friday, December 5. You can also find two of his three previous specials streaming right now, and you won’t be disappointed.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Chelsea Peretti is a deceptively intelligent ray of sunshiney bliss, and her new special is set to turn the usual stand-up hour on its head. Directed by Lance Bangs, One of the Greats will puts Peretti’s talents for writing and performing on full display, and will hit Netflix on Friday, November 14.
