--- title: The 10 Best Stand Up Comedy Specials of 2018 on Netflix description: TIME lists the 10 best stand up comedy specials of 2018 on Netflix you can stream right now. canonical: https://time.com/5444300/best-stand-up-2018/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-20T12:00:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:13.046Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Top 10 Stand Up Comedy Specials of 2018 og:description: The funniest hours you can stream right now og:url: https://time.com/5444300/best-stand-up-2018/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd412ca4c4aeb9a74/69893f2122fb85c752e272b9/best-comedy-specials.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Top 10 Best Comedy Specials 2018 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Top 10 Stand Up Comedy Specials of 2018 twitter:description: The funniest hours you can stream right now twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd412ca4c4aeb9a74/69893f2122fb85c752e272b9/best-comedy-specials.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Top 10 Stand Up Comedy Specials of 2018 > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Nov 20, 2018 12:00 PM UTC  Hannah Gadsby, Chris Rock and Ali Wong Hannah Gadsby, Chris Rock and Ali WongNetflix (3) by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Nov 20, 2018 12:00 PM UTC This year offered much vital humor from comedians we can be thankful for—and hopeful about—in 2019\. Despite different ideas of what a comedian should do, or be, right now, no one [on this year’s list](http://time.com/5430691/julia-louis-dreyfus-mark-twain-prize/) played it safe. In 2018, comics popped open the release valve viewers needed. In _Rape Jokes_, Cameron Esposito brilliantly mined rape culture and her personal experience with it. This year’s top pick, [Hannah Gadsby’s monumental _Nanette_,](http://time.com/4849726/best-stand-up-on-netflix-stream-funniest-comedy/) is a boundary-breaking performance from a survivor of sexual violence that fueled a global dialogue about gender and violence. With his special, W. Kamau Bell found optimism in the political climate, and he did it bracingly, theater-in-the-round style. Elsewhere, 2018’s most purely enjoyable sets addressed politics without making it the centerpiece. Two were career-defining: Ali Wong’s _Hard Knock Wife_ is a cathartic bile-fest that makes it clear she’s not going anywhere anytime soon. And with John Mulaney’s observational _Kid Gorgeous at Radio City_, the storyteller came into his own with his most immaculate show to date. Here, TIME recommends the 10 best stand up comedy specials of 2018 to see. ## 10\. **John Mulaney, “Kid Gorgeous”**  John Mulaney — Kid Gorgeous at Radio City Netflix For proof of just how far former _Saturday Night Live_ writer [Mulaney](http://time.com/3456809/john-mulaney-fox-show/) will go to master comic timing, look no further than his feet. Filmed at Radio City Music Hall, his best work to date isn’t only extremely funny—it’s expertly choreographed, down to his fancy footwork. He goes long on well-paced yarns, like the silliness of proving you’re human to a computer—and wherever he takes you, the payoff is satisfying. ## 9\. **Hari Kondabolu, “Warn Your Relatives”**  Hari Kondabolu: Warn Your Relatives Netflix Plenty of comedy sets have wrestled with living in the era of Donald Trump, but few are this vivid. After elevating a dialogue about how the culture portrays South Asian communities in his documentary [_The Problem with Apu_](http://time.com/5023017/hari-kondablou-the-problem-with-apu/), Kondabolu goes all-in with a sharp commentary on injustice. Yet where a lesser voice might have gone polemical, Kondabolu kept it all sublimely playful. ## 8\. **W. Kamau Bell, “Private School Negro”**  W. Kamau Bell - Private School Negro KC Bailey In a year filled with topical comedy, the host of Emmy Award–winning CNN series _United Shades of America_ delivers a standout monologue about raising children in a tumultuous political climate. The TV host and podcaster has always been skilled at finding the comic absurdity in darkness, but it’s the moving way he talks about searching for hope that really makes this hour resonate. ## 7\. **Jani Dueñas, “Grandes Fracasos De Ayer Y Hoy”**  Netflix This Chilean comedian might be under the radar for many viewers. She shouldn’t be. The Spanish title of her breakout special translates to “Great Failures of Yesterday and Today,” and it’s a winning study on our darkest and most human insecurities. Using her recent 40th birthday as the turning point, she muses on sex and beauty standards: “I have two options,” [Dueñas](https://www.netflix.com/title/80191989) jokes. “Be a mother or be a drunk aunt. I still don’t know which.” The result is a set that’s as perceptive as it is fearless. ## 6\. **Chris Rock, “Tambourine”**  Chris Rock – Tamborine Netflix Chris Rock could have done the same thing forever and people would have continued to tune in. But a decade after his last special _Kill the Messenger_, the comedy titan evolves by getting confessional about starting over after divorce. His willingness to derail the laughs shows a newfound vulnerability—all before he brings the act safely back to a funny zone. ## 5\. **Tig Notaro, “Happy to Be Here”**  Tig Notaro – Happy to Be Here Netflix Notaro rose to fame when she shared her breast cancer diagnosis during what is now regarded as a landmark set back in 2012\. Her deadpan style has already earned her legions of fans, but here, she increases her ambitions and gets mischievous. That’s never more evident than when she stretches out her final prank to brilliant effect. It’s a clever play on audience expectations—just like the [entire special](http://time.com/5271878/tig-notaro-netflix-special/). ## 4\. **Cameron Esposito, “Rape Jokes”**  Cameron Esposito – Rape Jokes Getty Images Esposito channels the kind of righteous fury that can only come from someone who’s been through hell and clawed her way back. Her worthy mission—to ensure victims of [sexual assault](http://time.com/5302765/cambodia-dose-of-cath-catherine-harry/) are the storytellers—never gets in the way of her ability to deliver one of the year’s most hilarious specials. ## 3\. **Ali Wong, “Hard Knock Wife”**  Ali Wong – Hard Knock Wife Netflix Wong, who earned acclaim for her [fabulously raw 2016 special _Baby Cobra_](http://time.com/collection/american-voices-2017/4550072/ali-wong-american-voices/), picks up right where she left off—and she’s just as pregnant as she was last time. Her new set is filled with searing takes on the limits of maternity leave and the disappointments of early motherhood. Dad jokes, step aside. ## 2\. **Aparna Nancherla, “The Standups”**  Aparna Nancherla – The Standups Saeed Adyani [Nancherla](http://time.com/5211530/aparna-nancherla-comedy-anxiety/) makes petty gripes about modern life feel worth talking about, using a PowerPoint presentation to execute jokes about Yelp reviewers, emojis and dating app dynamics. Backed by these clever visuals, she comes across as one of comedy’s most irreverent and approachable voices. ## **1\. Hannah Gadsby, “Nanette”**  Hannah Gadsby – Nanette Netflix Gadsby, who grew up gay in Tasmania, Australia—where homosexuality was only legalized in 1997—was sick of being self-deprecating for a laugh. So she created a [tour de force performance](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-comedian-forcing-stand-up-to-confront-the-metoo-era) that deconstructs all the familiar tropes of stand-up comedy. In the ashes, the comic bridges her history of trauma to contemporary culture’s failure to address systemic abuse. _Nanette_ kickstarted a [global conversation](http://time.com/5306498/hannah-gadsby-netflix-nanette-trailer/), ensuring that her underrepresented perspective was finally seen and heard—and when Gadsby wrenches out her pain on stage, she reveals her strength, rage, and yes, winning humor. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5444300/best-stand-up-2018/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5444300/best-stand-up-2018/"},"headline":"The Top 10 Stand Up Comedy Specials of 2018","datePublished":"2018-11-20T12:00:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:13.046Z","description":"The funniest hours you can stream right now","url":"https://time.com/5444300/best-stand-up-2018/","keywords":["Television","Newsfeed","Netflix","Comedy","Best of Everything 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd412ca4c4aeb9a74/69893f2122fb85c752e272b9/best-comedy-specials.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd412ca4c4aeb9a74/69893f2122fb85c752e272b9/best-comedy-specials.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Top 10 Best Comedy Specials 2018","caption":"Hannah Gadsby, Chris Rock and Ali Wong","creditText":"Netflix (3)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5444300/best-stand-up-2018/","name":"The Top 10 Stand Up Comedy Specials of 2018"}}]}] ```