John Hodgman: Ragnarok

John Hodgman with a Brooklyn stage to himself and a pretty good premise (a comedic monologue on the eve of the Mayan apocalypse) sounds like a good time. Meh, not so much. The brainy Hodgman struggles to stretch the premise of himself as a wealthy eccentric survivalist lecturing to unprepared Brooklynites out to what we can assume was a contractually obligated hour. He pulls an English fourteen year old out of the audience (who suspiciously seemed like he had stage experience) and just gets nowhere trying to improvise with him. He pointlessly pulls "30 Rock"'s Scott Adsit on stage for stooge work with Adsit clearly somewhat at a loss as to something witty to respond with. Eventually, he throws mayonnaise packets at the crowd which goes over about as funny as it sounds. The occasional good line does bubble up particularly in the prepared materials but any funny gets lost by those moments where things come to a stop and he searches for the next idea. In short, even if expectations were more modest, this still wouldn't live up to them.

I'm a Daily Show fan and have generally enjoyed the deranged millionaire character he plays in his segments satirizing the actions of the wealthy. I also have enjoyed him in his support for projects like You Look Nice Today and other such things, so I was looking forward to this Netflix project. The concept of the standup show is that the world is coming to an end (called Ragnarok in Norse mythology) so Hodgman has gathered his followers together in one place (a comedy club n Brooklyn) to prepare for the end of everything. While they wait he make observations, talks preparations and sends a teenage boy out onto the street.

I was curious how this deranged millionaire character would work outside of the structured bits on the Daily Show and after watching this show I am not sure that it does. Hodgman doesn't really use this character very well here and there is nothing specific that justifies it beyond the "higher than you" stance he takes. From this position he gets a few good laughs but mostly the material is at best amusing and mostly not even that. It is very odd to sit and listen to him talk about jars of mayo and urine and other such things needed to be hoarded, because while he talks I'm thinking "there are no laughs here" and generally this is the case. The audience seem to feel the same way – they are unusually subdued and it can be a little painful to see some of those in the front rows really not having a great time. Bits involving Joel Ronson (son of the writer) just offer nothing, while the appearance of Hopkins just seems too big a change in tone and throws the show off. Adsit is the only bit that actually seems to be consistently funny as an idea.

A real shame – I wanted to like it but although I did get a few laughs, I generally was surprised by how little of it worked and how much of it seemed baggy and unfocused. Hodgman can be very funny when he has material and structure – and with Ragnarok he doesn't have enough of either.

I loved it. Thank god not all specials are the same.

Alot of nerdy and absurd humor, not refrencing popular culture and beliefs.

Or as i would and will call it: a breath of fresh air.

Yes, John Hodgman appears on the Daily Show as the "Deranged Millionaire". Some may be disappointed that he does not occupy his comedy special with that same familiar slant of the former. Even without preconceived notions of what direction this performance ought to take, not everyone will enjoy, for example, his impish, sardonic observations on sperm whales, or the ridiculousness of sports. But many will appreciate this humor. It is different. It's Nerdy, preposterous, often adorably inappropriate, and smart- it's stand-up/performance art, delightfully dry and clever, without being overly snarky and mean. More often than not, stand-up productions fit themselves into one of the safe, laugh producing molds. There is plenty of that to occupy one's screen with if this doesn't do it for you. As another reviewer has alluded to, there are three audience members (non-members?) in the front row, sitting next to each other, and they look absolutely miserable. There is something else going on there. John did not make them miserable. They were miserable. Fortunately there was a happy, captive audience to help the millionaire convey his deranged message beyond the front row via laughter.