The 10 Best Stand-up Comedy Specials Streaming on Netflix

Chris Rock: Selective Outrage (2023)

Watch if you love: Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy

Meet the comic: Rock, 61, is one of the rare Saturday Night Live veterans who’ve had more success after leaving the show. You may also know him from movies like Lethal Weapon 4 and Grown Ups or as the Oscars host in 2005 and 2016. (He was a presenter in 2022 when Will Smith slapped him onstage.)

What's his style? Sharp, provocative and edgy.

What’s so funny? Most of the reviews of this livestreamed special focused on it being the first time Rock addressed “the Slap.” And that part of the set — turning public humiliation into a biting critique — is fantastic. But Rock is equally hilarious riffing on race, politics and celebrity hypocrisy.

Watch it: Chris Rock: Selective Outrage

Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special (2022)

Watch if you love: David Letterman, Steven Wright

Meet the comic: Often described as a comic’s comic due to his uncompromising willingness to deconstruct jokes and court disaster onstage, the former SNL Weekend Update anchor died in 2021 at age 61 from leukemia.  

What’s his style? Offbeat, deadpan and willing to go off on long tangents before ambushing you with a gut-buster. An acquired taste.

What’s so funny? Prior to his death, few people knew that Macdonald was sick. But he was keeping another secret too — this staggeringly poignant set self-taped at his home. Released posthumously in 2022, Nothing Special is a fitting tribute to his gift for finding humor — including the absurdity of life and death — in unexpected places.

Watch It: Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special

Nate Bargatze: The Tennessee Kid (2019)

Watch if you love: Kevin James, Bob Newhart

Meet the comic: In the past few years, Bargatze, 47, has become one of the biggest stand-up attractions in the country and had a couple of hosting stints on SNL. Earlier this year, he starred in his first movie, The Breadwinner.

What's his style? Clean, off-kilter, self-deprecating comedy about being a dummy, delivered in a slow Tennessee drawl.

What’s so funny? You have to be very smart to be able to make yourself look as dim as Bargatze does. This special captures what it’s like to be a poor student, a helpless husband and a very confused father. It also captures Bargatze at the precise moment before he would become a hugely famous, stadium-filling comedy star.

Watch it: Nate Bargatze: The Tennessee Kid

Michelle Wolf: Joke Show (2019)

Watch if you love: Joan Rivers, Wanda Sykes

Meet the comic: Wolf has worked on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and Late Night with Seth Meyers. She also got a lot of press for her barbed hosting gig at the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

What’s her style? Fearless satirical takes on politics, feminism and clueless people.

What’s so funny? Wolf’s raspy, deadpan delivery has a tendency to let her killer punchlines and observations sneak up on you. In this excellent set, she blends intelligence and outrage to skewer the self-important and self-righteous. 

Watch it: Michelle Wolf: Joke Show

John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City (2018)

Watch if you love: Conan O’Brien, Richard Lewis

Meet the comic: Mulaney was a wunderkind writer at SNL from 2008 to 2013 and has returned to (brilliantly) host the show six times. He also hosted Netflix’s Everybody’s in LA.

What’s his style? Polished, exquisitely crafted jokes delivered in a tailored suit at a lightning-quick, rat-a-tat clip.

What’s so funny? Mulaney’s most recent Netflix special, 2023’s Baby J, was a little too navel-gazing about his well-publicized stint in rehab. We prefer Kid Gorgeous, a stand-up master class that brilliantly unpacks growing up Catholic, getting in trouble and trying to make sense of our political moment.

Watch it: John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City

Patton Oswalt: Annihilation (2017)

Watch if you love: George Carlin, Jon Stewart

Meet the comic: You’ll recognize Oswalt, 57, from TV show The King of Queens and the Pixar film Ratatouille (he’s the voice of the rat hero, Remy). Neither hints at his stand-up brilliance.

What’s his style? Smart, sardonic and geeky deep dives on pop culture.

What’s so funny? Oswalt has always been more obsessed with the nerdier cul-de-sacs of the entertainment universe, but in this powerful set, he also addresses the still-fresh death of his wife and navigating through grief.

Watch it: Patton Oswalt: Annihilation

Jerry Seinfeld: Jerry Before Seinfeld (2017)

Watch if you love: Jerry Seinfeld

Meet the comic: You may know Seinfeld, 72, from an obscure little sitcom from the ’90s called … Seinfeld.

What’s his style? Observational takes about everyday absurdities, laser-precise and clean.

What’s so funny? In a surprisingly clever twist, Seinfeld returns to his pre-sitcom club-circuit days for this 2017 set that mixes some of his classic routines with introspective stories about his Long Island childhood and early, less glamorous days in showbiz.

Watch it: Jerry Seinfeld: Jerry Before Seinfeld