Andrew Santino: Cheeseburger

Big fan of him and Bobby; however, This special continues the trend of comedians specials being far worse than their ability to be funny on podcasts. That being said. Of those in the rogan sphere, Santino is a lot closer to someone like Segura in terms of on stage ability and joke writing, whereas theo, Delia, and distefano are closer to schaub. Tbh the only truly good or great specials I've seen in recent years (past 5ish? Are louis C. K., Segura, gillis, Normand, Chapelle, and norm. Granted I will still check in to bad friends and whiskey ginger but I no longer entertain the idea of seeing Santino live.

I've seen Santino live several times. He's absolutely killed it when I've seen him. This, however... I have no idea what this is. This feels like the pumpkin spice latte of comedy specials. Generic, bland, about as "basic" as comedy can get. At not one point does this special ever pick up and grab you. Probably be more effective as background noise while you're doing housework than anything else. I feel like he has reached that level where he has attained some level of success, and now he thinks he doesn't have to try hard anymore. It's very clear in his writing and execution. Unfortunate when comics go this route.

The man looks like a cross between Bill Burr and Robin Williams. And it was not a waste of time to watch this special. I particularly enjoyed the "ocean big, straw float, turtle swim" bit.

That said: I don't think this is a fine example to stand up at all. Not because he doesn't have a sense of humor, but because he is extremely scared of speaking his mind.

Though at times (when targeting Biden) he acted like he wouldn't mind backlash from the woke, he most definitely does. That is exactly why he didn't and couldn't target Obama or Kamala.

Totally in line with the CRT narrative, he equated Trump with Biden on the basis of "whiteness" and literally presented these people's race as "the root problem" with them.

I wouldn't mind much had I gotten the impression that Andrew Santiago himself DID actually buy the ideas behind rampant woke extremism. But when you read between the lines, you just KNOW his mind is not in peace with that narrative. He even mentions Dave Chappelle, which is tactically a huge mistake. Because he can't dare say "Hell yeah, Dave is great and spot on!" All he does with dropping Chappelle's name is some lame attempt at mitigation. Had he not blatantly shown the contrast between Dave and himself, he could hide better the fact that he doesn't have the guts to speak his mind. But he just walked right into it.

In what world can the "only mistake" by Kamala Harris be "not getting rid of Biden"? What is it about Kamala that Andrew thinks is different than Biden?

"She's Black!"

Really?

Look, Andrew: If you are smart enough to question the narrative with straws, you gotta be smart enough not to be duped by "anti-racist racism". You shied away from saying aything bad about Obama not because you thought he was the ideal president (maybe he was, that's not the issue) but because you pandered to what in your mind was your audience.

In an age where people criticize even Bill Burr for not being sincere enough, holding yourself back and trying to walk a straight line will not help you develop.

Cheeto Santino has created not just one of the greatest closing bits ever but what I think of in the same way I do of Gary Gulman's bit about the documentary he watched about the people that shortened the State's names - and has a great similarity.

Ignore the review that does the tired, cliche copout of 'What happened to Andrew Santino?' routine. There's always someone that feels the need to dole out a 1-star review just for the sake of being that way. They are humorless and should stick to the reality show they review and like.

The entire special is very funny and is on the level that Santino always gives but once he begins talking about his dog, then the ride gets VERY fun and he makes a really great point, which he alluded to earlier.

I am not very familiar with Andrew Santino, or his work. He appears to be a charming, decent guy. The issue is that he is just not that funny. It is not that he is offensive, or too esoteric. He covers a variety of topics, from the pandemic to sexuality to growing up in the 80's. His delivery is natural. His jokes and storytelling might be ok if he was a friend of yours, but not enough to conquer a Live audience. One of the other issues with the special is that he is also the Director and it is not shot very well. The special keeps going back and forth between two camera angles and it it a little distracting. I like Netflix comedy and try them all. This was very average, at best.