James Acaster: Repertoire

Well I just finished all the episodes and they weave together masterfully. Each episode i thought he is working his way up my list of favorite comedians with Bill Burr, Pete Holmes, Brian Regan, and Andy Woodhul. By the final episode and seeing that he just did a 4-5 hour comedy special the all wove together... fantastic. So damn funny.

By far the best comedy special released by Netflix this year.

James Acaster is my favourite comedian of all time. I've seen every TV appearance he's made, all his live clips online, listened to all of his classic scrapes and read his book. I LOVE this man, he has the ability to make me no matter what. So when I heard that 4 hours worth of his material was going to be put on Netflix, I was ecstatic to say the least.

Every part of this four-part comedic masterpiece is hilarious. The show is made up of new and old material. The old stuff still lands as well as it did the first time I heard it and the new stuff was amazing to see.

Each episode has James (colour coordinated with the stage background) seemingly rambling about unconnected topics for 55 minutes at a time, but by the end you realise that you've seen an perfectly plotted show that managed to somehow get a very strange plot across.

Gags like James playing us his comedy podcast, talking about jury duty, massages, pictures-you-put-your-head-in, folding boxes, Google logos, Dr Pepper, conga lines, Mexican restaurant cutlery and how to break the ice sound like they don't connect but by the end of all four you're aware you've seen something special.

The final episode especially manages to tie in in-jokes from all three other episodes as well as some more new material that manages to cap off the whole show and make you feel like you've seen one 4-hour set rather than four unrelated shows.

It's unlikely, but I hope that more of Acaster's work makes it to Netflix as more people need to be exposed to his genius. If you love Acaster like I do, this will be the highlight of your year so far. If you've never heard of him then do yourself a favour and check this out, you'll love it.

The scope of these specials is defiantly something to be amazed by. The first three shows are loosely connected, with the final show, Recap, linking them all. It's an interesting idea and allows for intricate call backs and helps create some jokes that wouldn't have been possible either.

Each special stands up on it's own (however Recap will be less impactful if you've not seen the previous) and within it, there are plenty of absurd observations and enactments. The only stipulation is that if you're a fan of James Acaster you may have heard quite a few of these segments on various panel shows. There's still a ton of stuff you won't have seen and lots of the stuff you would have heard is more confidently delivered here, but that is something to consider.

As an aside, a common topic with US vs UK comedy is that US comedy is just jokes where as UK comedy tries to also have a narrative, which leads to US comedy being much more joke and laugh oriented, but perhaps not as personal. UK comedy has more of an arc so feels more like a 'complete' piece of standup (rather than a series of funny 'bits') and this seems like the perfect example of this. It's all connected but only uses that to elevate the comedy. Well worth a watch.

According to a comic friend of mine. James Acaster is known as the comedian that comedians would pay to watch. His "Repertoire" series on Neflix is akin to performance art. It is intricately yet seamlessly crafted. It follows to say that the devil is in the detail, and that Mr Acaster beguiles and bedazzles Lucifer into submission. Comedy is subjective, so all are welcome to disagree. However as a wise man... or woman once said "shut up! My opinion is well better than yours!"