Mae Martin: SAP

Mae arrives on Netflix with a characteristically understated live special, with only a sort of semi-meta bit of bumpering with the great Phil Burgers (also in Feel Good) as adornment. I think the direction was similarly bare bones but the material was solid and Mae is so effortlessly charismatic, with their slightly-overwhelmed-to-even-be-speaking-in-public vibe. The comedy is a niche sort of vibe tonally and strikes a strange place between introspective tangents of tremendous earnestness and stabs of surreal bluntitude. Whether they nail "the big message" or not is neither here nor there, this is them fairly unvarnished and I can dig it.

I'll give this two stars because my wife laughed once throughout the special. I didn't laugh at all. Im sure some people hate this simply because it's an LGBTQIA+ comedian. I don't give a damn about that. I just didn't find it funny at all. It starts with a years old joke Mae has told many times before. From there it devolves in to, at times, incoherent rambling. Mae will often stop mid joke and go on a tangent about something completely different. The word "like" is used in almost every sentence. I'm, like, such and such, like, XYZ. I wish Mae all the best in the future, but this type of manic incoherent comedy isn't for me. Mae is all over the place and, in my opinion, makes for an almost unwatchable hour.

"SAP" is one of those shows where you actually had to be there. Mae is super likeable and has great chemistry with the audience. They are way better to watch live with friends than alone on netflix. Yes, it's true with every stand-up but with some ppl it's more so(ex: if Michelle Wolf is 9.5/10 on netflix then she's 10/10 live. If Mae is 6/10 on netflix, they are 8/10 live).

Writing-wise it's good: Mae is self-aware, there are jokes and there are some good metaphors.

Overall, this special is like a reddit thread where Mae is the op, the first level-commenter, and the jokey sub-commenter. It leaves you feeling good about the community but you're ready to move on to another post.

I was excited to see that Mae Martin had a Netflix special; I enjoyed Feel Good and find Mae charming and likable. I thought the special would be an opportunity for Mae to showcase their talents as a comedian because the content of Feel Good was mostly autobiographical. This is a disappointing special. There are some rambling mildly amusing anecdotes, but there aren't any funny lines. I don't think I laughed once watching the entire thing. I still like Mae's style and personality and find them sincere and amusing, but this isn't comedy. This is like watching a monologue of a person who I would find interesting to talk with at a party. It's also sad that Mae calls out comedians like Louis CK and Dave Chapelle in a desperate attempt to score political points when they can't get a laugh from their audience. If you're going toe-to-toe with some of the GOATS then you need better material.

I love Mae, they have a unique nervous energy about them. Also they are great with deadpan humor so might be not everyone gets when they are joking. This special is full of that energy and some personal stories, not all of them happy or sappy. And some people may not share all their believes which I suspect is the real reason some people claim this show wasn't funny at all.

Because it was, I laughed aloud many times and I bet it was a joy to see live. I hope they get to too many more specials and polish their style even more.

I hope this review if finally ok to post because I think this is my fourth time writing and trying to submit it.