Jim Jefferies: High & Dry

I really wanted to like this special because I've watched all of Jim Jefferies other specials, and this one was frankly underwhelming and difficult to stay engaged. There were a couple of good jokes throughout the special, but ultimately many of them were drawn out. He often uses just the sheer volume of his voice to make a joke, but just being loud doesn't necessarily make you funny. Overall, I do appreciate Jim for sticking to his original shtick of self-deprivation and raunchy comedy, but this show is probably best viewed in person. I don't want to be too overly critical of a comedy special, especially Jim Jefferies, as I am a fan, but I would probably skip this one.

If you're not tired of the "applaus-ter" for a comedian virtue signalling for about 50% of the special, then this one might be for you. The special was comprised of good jokes hidden between politicized rhetoric that overshadowed the real comedy. I can appreciate how comedians want to use their platform to echo the same 5 talking points for the greater good, but it's become trite and cliche for any comedian with a couple specials already released.

The dirty jokes seem more forced, not so much naturally flowing thoughts but more brute force, sudden impact to pull a laugh. There was a good special in there somewhere, it's just sad to see Jefferies giving us a speech on social issues instead sticking to the material we came to love and know from him.

It's better than his last special, but there's an entire segment of 69 jokes ripped off from Tom Segura, and a bunch of other jokes I'm pretty sure he stole from others like Doug Stanhope, as he always tends to.

He also repeats some of his own old jokes by the word, like "If you're (insert group here), know that you're not welcome here." or "(insert group here) are the worst people on Earth." or "You may know DJ Qualls as the skinny guy from Hustle n Flow"- and it's pretty ridiculous. Like you're watching a broken record loop for over a decade.

And as always, he's found new and inventive ways of pretending to be edgy, while actually doing the most middle-of-the-road, safe jokes as to not veer away from his new, fake liberal persona. For example, he makes fun of Greta - and that was something - but before he started he had to be like "I agree with her on EVERYTHING!"

Jeez, Jim, where'd your balls go? You're not edgy if you tell the audience what your "real" opinion is before or after each joke, and it's always a safe leftist one we all know you don't actually mean.

But hey, this special isn't as bland and aimless as the last one, and for Netflix, it's far beyond what the standard is.

So despite my many gripes with Jim "Jefferies" the person, Jim "Jefferies" the comedian is still 10/10 by Netflix standards.

I've seen quite a lot of his stand-up comedies and I've always been entertained by them. I like his style, his sense of humour, not afraid of self-deprecation, his raunchy dirty jokes. I tried watching his weekly show, The Jim Jefferies Show, which I found okay but not great. His weekly show was just too much reading the autocue, didn't look natural, and that's the big difference with his stand-up comedies that are so much better. High & Dry brought a constant smile on my face, exactly the kind of show I was expecting. Jim Jefferies should just stick to what he does best and that's on a stage in front of an audience.

Because it's now hip to dump on Jefferies while acting as though one is above it. Anyone that tries to be witty and says their 4 our of 10 rating is because he 'gives it a go' and is a 'partidipaction trophy' is wanting to say more about themselves than the special.

As always, he does a great job with storytelling and his always enjoyable digressions that entertaining enough that you almost forgot what led to them. A great example is the DJ Qualls bit.

Even better is his take on the LGBTQ issues and does a great job laying it all out without leaving the reality of it all. From the sounds of it, this might be the last Jim Jefferies special. I hope it's not but if it is, it's a great way to end. I do hope he continues though because he will be greatly missed.