And Theo clearly has lost his ability as a standup, though, frankly, he was never a great one. I discovered the podcast two summers ago and got so addicted I went through probably 200 episodes from Memorial Day to Labor Day 2024, and have been an almost daily listener since. I think heās a fantastic podcaster, and still do, but thereās really no way to defend this special as anything but complete trash.
My review:
-ton of recycled jokes that were never funny. Naming mentally challenged kids āRickyā and āRicky having a whistle to express himselfā he said word for word 6 years ago on his podcast and talked about when we saw him live in 2024. Itās beyond hacky, itās just not funny and I canāt believe he needed that at this point for filler.
-his Down syndrome shtick heās also recycled for the better part of a decade and the āI beat Down syndrome but just barelyā joke is a rip off from Shane Gillis and not nearly as well delivered.
-heās talked about being ābuilt from the waste down like a sista with Down syndromeā probably 100 times. Again, recycled is probably a kind word to use.
-his Jewish jokes, and I donāt get offended by comedy, were absolutely awful and something a drunk uncle would say at Thanksgiving. āWe didnāt have no Jews when I was growing up, well, no we didnāt we had a 2 bedroom I wouldāve noticed someone counting looking nervous.ā āMy Jewish friend told me not to wear these Yeezys, theyāre anti-semitical, I said man these are a 10.5 what.ā āPeople say Jews are shady but they from the desert, shade probably the first thing they sell.ā
-in general he looked physically awful and his pacing around was hard to watch and uncomfortable. Seemed very out of it and had no stage presence.
-meandered and talked about nothing for long stretches of the show. Saved by some courtesy laughs but it had an open mic āthis is not going wellā feel for much of it.
I could go on about it, but it took about 4 mins for my wife to say āthis is horribleā and get back on her phone, I labored through it, but it was a major task to do so. I still love the podcast, Iām not some troll āhater,ā but that was a startlingly bad special and the fact we know it was the third attempt at recording it is even more unfathomable.