Kill Tony: Kill or Be Killed

Unfortunately the format of the show was poorly executed, with fake bucket pulls (like Francis foster from Triggernometry, a Youtube channel with over 1.3 million subscribers and a regular JRE guest), and unfunny guests (Rogan and Segura). Ari Matti was a poor opener, who's previous jokes include bombing a Taylor Swift concert. Casey Rocket, a usual fan favorite flopped. The only light brought to this episode was from Kyle Dunnigan as Elon Musk and JFK, and Shane Gillis as Trump, Adam Ray as Biden and and closer William Montgomery. I think everyone was nervous for Netflix, even Brian Redban wasn't on form, who is a staple of Kill tony.

I'll start on the positive side, some of the bits were ok, amusing at least. Shane Gillis as Donald Trump was leaps and bounds better than the rest of the show. Honestly, probably one of the best Trump impression I have seen. Now, on the negative side, the bucket pulls were shockingly bad. It's going to sound like I'm being mean or exaggerating, but about halfway through I seriously started to ask "does stand up comedy just suck that bad in Austin ?" As for the bucket pulls, they obviously had to be pre picked, are these people the best of Austin? Also, if you think it's just me having a bad sense of humor, listen to the crowd, you could hear a pin drop. Typically in live comedy things are objectively funnier in person, laughter is infectious, but whoa, this crowd is silent. It takes a ton of guts to get up and perform in front of people, especially on Netflix, so I'm really not trying to trash these comedians, but it really was bad. I wish all those comedians the best.

Even if I was drunk and kicked in the head I would struggle to find anything funny about this train wreck. The special is desperately trying to be roast special mixed with the View but misses the mark on both counts. It drops the good natured insult humor of a Don Rickles or Ross of a roast in place of meaningless sarcasm and oddly desperate boot licking. The only thing missing is a four hour rant in the middle selling supplements or secretive men only weekend retreats, that will probably be on a future release. I know Netflix wants to expand their audience but this reeks of a cash grab appeal to the lowest common denominator.

This episode was a weirdly packaged version of what Kill Tony really is. New viewers will be misled.

The episode is called Kill Tony for a reason - Tony is the showman that makes it work. But here, he's mostly a host introducing the next segment while showcasing his mates with barely any bucket pulls - the magic of the show! His roast of bucket pulls is soft and misses the usual quick, hilarious, ego-destroying responses. He even leaves awkward silences between guest contributions that would normally be filled because he understands showbiz. And there is just a general sense of nervousness to make it work rather than just going with the flow.

Overly prepared, unnatural, uninspired.

If you want the real deal - head over to YouTube.

Assuming you didn't do this merely for the Netflix money and you actually tried to present the show to a wider audience, here's my little piece of advice: actually DO THE SHOW.

You see, people go on Netflix and see there's this thing about amateur comedians having the chance to prove themselves in front of a bunch of professionals - sounds awesome! But none of the new viewers will have a clue what the hell is going on here cause you're not DOING THE SHOW.

In over two hours we get to see merely SIX bucket pulls cause you're too busy trying to make this episode about your celebrity friends and your artificially hyped regulars.

The premise of the show is unknown comedians going on a big stage. What do we get? Entire sets by Adam Ray, Jeff Ross, Kyle Dunnigan, Adam Ray AGAIN, somehow Francis Foster sneaked in there? And of course Ron White has to have his moment as the saviour of comedy. Stop talking about how important this show is for comedy and actually DO THE SHOW.

I don't really understand what you get out of hyping these horrible regulars, but whatever, they should be an exception and not make up 50% of the show. You can't even criticise them here, because this is Netflix now and you have to pat yourself on the back. Criticising them would be criticising yourself. Kam, you've done it again! William Montgomery must seem bewildering to the new audience cause he's just screaming nonsense until something sticks, but my hungry wolf is here TO EXPLAIN to the audience that he really really is funny, promise. DO THE SHOW

Joe Rogan is completely useless on Kill Tony. Tom Segura is completely useless as a human being. Shane is a God, he is invincible. Kudos to him for calling BS on giving that horrible lady a spot at the secret show - but hey, they had to prove that this show is really important for new comedians and they kinda just forgot about it until the very end.

But even Shane is too much here cause he steals the spotlight. Get somebody like Sam Tallent who can make everything funny without stealing the show. And we want to see those 200 freaks waiting outside. Let them bomb, let them surprise us, let them tell their stories, show us how delusional they are, let them show us their hidden talents - instead of rushing through a Mexican drumoff cause you're worried that your bestie Ron White won't have enough stage time. DO THE SHOW.