RAANAN HERSHBERG
Raanan Hershberg, pound for pound, is truly one of my favorite comedians right now. (No, that’s not a fat joke, I live in a glass house, I don’t throw stones.) The reason I think he’s so great is because he has a solid ten bits, or more, I wish I had written. To me that’s the real test if you really love a comic. Do you wish you could do a lot of their act and get away with it? There’s not a lot of comics with that many bits I covet. Maybe Louis C.K. , maybe Burr, Ricky Gervais. Chris Rock. Chappelle? A few others.
There are a lot of comics who are funny as hell, killing it, selling seats, who make me laugh hard, and are monsters, because they’re monsters on stage. Sebastian is a monster. One of the best performers out there. He has amazing bits, but they’re Sebastian bits. I couldn’t take them and make them work. Very few people other than Sebastian could. I can’t tell you one of Bert Kreischer’s jokes I could make work anywhere near the level Bert pulls them off.
There are fifteen or twenty jokes Ricky Gervais has written that I could win with if it weren’t for the fact this British ass-wipe has beaten me to it and written them first. That to me is the sign of a master. Woody Allen wrote jokes you could easily steal if you were looking to be a genius in a room full of people that didn’t know any better.
That’s the truth though, the combination of great performing and great writing is the difference between good and stellar in stand up comedy, and it’s damn rare. That’s why I think this Raanan Hershberg is pretty amazing.
He’s got some world class bits. He’s got the best bit there is on transgender bathrooms.
He’s got a perfect bit on Joe Rogan, which actually is a bit on himself and all comics.
He has a great bit on being a liberal,
“I have mixed feelings being a liberal. I was mugged a few years ago here in New York. I was so relieved the guy was white. The cops were like ‘what did he look like?’, I was all smug, ‘Uhm, he was white!’.
He also has a perfect character. Him. A Jewish guy with a lisp, that’s just totally, Raanan 360 degrees. That’s as important as strong material. A top notch character that isn’t a character you’ve made up. One you’ve lived. An authentic comic voice. He has that in thpades. (sorry.)
Truthfully though, he’s coming from a one hundred and ten percent unique place which top comics do. He’s a fantastic performer with wild energy, loads of confidence, and comedic honesty concerning his foibles and his flaws. The final check in the box is that he’s damn prolific. He’s got that thing that the greats have, that Carlin, and Klein, and modern killers like, Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswald, Whitney Cummings have, he can reinvent his hour time and time again and each one seems mostly to be just as good if not better.
BRAVE (YOU TUBE)
If you’re already a fan you know I’m not overselling, if you aren’t, trust me I’m not. This guy really is a lot of fun. He’s way up on a list of the top, about to hit hard, comedians to watch, which includes, Carmen Lynch, Vinny Fasline, Dov Davidoff, Adrienne Iapalucci, Dave Murphy, J.B. Ball, Josh Wolf, Greg Warren, and a few others.
Watch his new special, Brave, his other specials up on his You Tube channel, and the films he’s made. He’s another guy like, Sam Rubinoff, who’s also a filmmaker, out there making smart little films. (*Also with Joe List.)
I love this new world of Stand up. It’s great to see how many strong voices there are. The world needs it. We need to keep laughing.
P.S. Here’s a smart set he did four years ago on James Corden. I know talk show sets aren’t a big deal anymore, but this is strong and has a lot of the stuff I think that makes him special.
Check out his YOU TUBE SITE;
Get tickets to his upcoming shows, and more info on his website.
That’s it, thanks again! Have a great week.
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