Stand-Up Specials & Documentaries

Are Kalvø · 2025

Are Kalvø tries to build a bridge between the Norwegian countryside and the city. Runs roughly 74 minutes.

Christian Fuhlendorff · 2025

An honest and funny look at life from the perspective of a 40-year-old family father.

Sigrid Bonde Tusvik · 2025

Sigrid Bonde Tusvik's solo stand-up show of life observations, praised by NRK's reviewer for its timing and pace. Runs roughly 65 minutes.

Jacob Taarnhøj · 2025

Taarnhøj's third one-man show, heavy on wordplay, invented speeches and storytelling.

Nour El Refai · 2025

Recording of Nour El Refai's sold-out Swedish stand-up tour, dissecting middle-class life. Streams on TV4 Play.

Jon Niklas Rønning · 2025

Jon Niklas Rønning's solo show of comedy, music and parodies, a tribute to living in the moment.

Alex Edelman · 2024

A filmed version of Edelman's Broadway solo show about attending a meeting of white nationalists in Queens.

Anders Matthesen · 2024

A sold-out Anders Matthesen show built on stage presence and a very high joke rate.

Jonas Kinge Bergland · 2024

Doctor turned comedian Jonas Kinge Bergland's solo stand-up show, running roughly 84 minutes.

Ahmed Mamow · 2024

Ahmed Mamow's absurdist stand-up show, billed by NRK as the strangest show of the year. Runs roughly 47 minutes.

Jacqueline Novak · 2024

A filmed version of Novak's long-running off-Broadway solo show, an hour-plus essay built around a single subject. Ranked second on Vulture's 2024 list.

Mikkel Klint Thorius · 2024

Thorius's third one-man show, taking aim at current social trends.

Stian Blipp · 2024

A circus-framed solo show mixing stand-up with music, dance and beatboxing. Filed by NRK under its stand-up shelf.

Thomas Warberg · 2024

Thomas Warberg's fifth one-man show, well received by both audiences and reviewers.

Chris Rock · 2023

Netflix's first live global stand-up event, broadcast from Baltimore.

Dagfinn Lyngbø · 2023

Dagfinn Lyngbø builds a set of rules of the road for the colonisation of Mars. Runs roughly 73 minutes.

Johan Glans · 2023

Recording of Glans's first large Swedish tour in five years, played across some twenty summer venues. Streams on TV4 Play.

John Mulaney · 2023

Filmed at Boston's Symphony Hall and directed by Alex Timbers, built around Mulaney's intervention and rehab stay. Won a Primetime Emmy.

Mae Martin · 2023

Martin's hour-long Netflix stand-up debut, directed by Abbi Jacobson, covering gender, identity and a moose anecdote.

Marc Maron · 2023

Maron's HBO hour following the death of his partner Lynn Shelton. Topped Vulture's best comedy specials of 2023 list.

Dora Thorhallsdottir · 2023

Dora Thorhallsdottir sets out to make the menopause funny, treating it as the last remaining taboo.

Terje Sporsem · 2023

A stand-up show asking what it means to be Norwegian, and whether oil wealth changed the national character.

Atsuko Okatsuka · 2022

Okatsuka's first HBO hour, built around a home intrusion and her multigenerational household. Ranked tenth on Vulture's 2022 list.

Hasan Minhaj · 2022

Filmed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music using onstage screens, on fertility, fatherhood and the consequences of political comedy.

Jerrod Carmichael · 2022

Directed by Bo Burnham and filmed in a small New York club, with Carmichael seated and in conversation with the audience. He comes out as gay during the show. Topped Vulture's 2022 list.

Mahamad Habane · 2022

Mahamad Habane's first one-man show, built on high-spirited, positive comedy.

Sarah Millican · 2022

Filmed record of Millican's Bobby Dazzler tour. She is the biggest-selling female stand-up in UK touring history.

Taylor Tomlinson · 2022

Built around Tomlinson's bipolar II diagnosis and her mother's death. Ranked eighth on Vulture's best comedy specials of 2022.

Tobias Dybvad · 2022

A return to the playful satirical comedy style that made Dybvad one of Denmark's most popular comedians.

Bo Burnham · 2021

Written, shot, performed and edited by Burnham alone in one room during the COVID-19 pandemic. A musical-comedy special rather than a stage set; it won three Primetime Emmy Awards.

Dave Chappelle · 2021

Framed by Chappelle as the last in his Netflix run. It drew sustained public criticism over its material about gender identity and received three Emmy nominations.

Fern Brady · 2021

Brady's first full-length special, recorded in the UK.

Jimmy Carr · 2021

A one-liner-driven hour. One joke about the Roma genocide prompted public condemnation and calls for regulation in the UK.

Terje Sporsem · 2021

Terje Sporsem's widely reviewed touring stand-up show about religion, running roughly 70 minutes.

Thomas Warberg · 2021

A stand-up show about living in a time when feelings and opinions outrank facts.

Tig Notaro · 2021

A fully animated stand-up special, with several animation studios illustrating different segments. Ranked fourth on Vulture's best comedy specials of 2021.

Ari Eldjárn · 2020

English-language Netflix stand-up special in which Icelandic comedian Ari Eldjárn jokes about Nordic rivalries, Hollywood's version of Thor and life with toddlers.

Bjørn-Henning Ødegaard · 2020

Personal and smart stand-up from a regular on Latter's club stage. Runs roughly 62 minutes.

Hannah Gadsby · 2020

Gadsby's follow-up to Nanette, opening with a spoken outline of the show's own structure and covering autism diagnosis and art history. Received two Primetime Emmy nominations.

Are Kalvø · 2020

A recorded stage show by Are Kalvø built around Norwegian cabin culture. Runs roughly 67 minutes.

Jon Niklas Rønning · 2020

A personal and self-ironic solo show with topical comic songs and wry observations.

Pernille Sørensen · 2020

Pernille Sørensen's stand-up show about navigating culture, recorded at Drammen teater.

Marc Maron · 2020

An apocalyptic hour taped shortly before the pandemic shutdown. Topped Vulture's best comedy specials of 2020 list.

Natalie Palamides · 2020

A clown and character piece in which Palamides performs as a man named Nate, using audience participation to stage a routine about consent. Ranked second on Vulture's 2020 list.

Rose Matafeo · 2020

The filmed version of Matafeo's Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning show.

Yvonne Orji · 2020

Intercuts stand-up with documentary footage from Orji's trip to Nigeria. Ranked third on Vulture's best comedy specials of 2020.

Anthony Jeselnik · 2019

A precisely constructed dark one-liner hour. Ranked second on Vulture's best comedy specials of 2019.

Aziz Ansari · 2019

Directed by Spike Jonze and shot in a stripped-back style. Ansari's first hour after the 2018 allegations against him, which the special addresses in its opening.

Bill Burr · 2019

Filmed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Ranked seventh on Vulture's best comedy specials of 2019.

Dave Chappelle · 2019

Chappelle's fifth Netflix hour, directed by Stan Lathan and released without advance press. It won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album and two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Jonas Kinge Bergland · 2019

Bergland's breakthrough stand-up show, in which the doctor breaks patient confidentiality.

Gary Gulman · 2019

Part stand-up and part documentary, about Gulman's hospitalisation for depression. Ranked fourth on Vulture's best comedy specials of 2019.

Jonis Josef · 2019

A stand-up special in which Jonis Josef tells stories from growing up in Gulset in Skien. Published by NRK as a stand-alone stand-up special.

Katherine Ryan · 2019

Taken from Ryan's West End run at London's Garrick Theatre, on school bullies and raising her daughter.

Lil Rel Howery · 2019

Topped Vulture's best comedy specials of 2019 list.

Mike Birbiglia · 2019

Filmed from Birbiglia's Broadway run, a single narrative about becoming a father. Ranked third on Vulture's best comedy specials of 2019.

Nate Bargatze · 2019

Bargatze's first Netflix special, a clean observational hour that established his mainstream audience.

Marit Voldsæter · 2019

Stand-up show recorded at Latter: Marit Voldsæter failed biology at school and then married a professor of the subject.

Ramy Youssef · 2019

Youssef's first HBO hour, on faith, family and being Muslim in America.

Wanda Sykes · 2019

Filmed in Washington D.C. Ranked tenth on Vulture's best comedy specials of 2019 and Emmy-nominated.

Adam Sandler · 2018

Shot across multiple venues from arenas to a subway platform, and including his song for Chris Farley. Ranked second on Vulture's 2018 list.

Ali Wong · 2018

Wong's second Netflix hour, again filmed while pregnant, on marriage, postpartum recovery and motherhood.

Chris Rock · 2018

Rock's first special in a decade, filmed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and directed by Bo Burnham. Grammy-nominated and ranked sixth on Vulture's 2018 list.

Daniel Sloss · 2018

Two hours released together: Dark, on his disabled sister's death, and Jigsaw, whose closing relationship routine was widely credited with prompting breakups among viewers.

Dora Thorhallsdottir · 2018

A stand-up show about family, drawing on the performer's work as a relationship therapist. Played more than a hundred times at Latter and on tour.

Hannah Gadsby · 2018

A stage show that argues against the structure of stand-up itself while recounting Gadsby's experience of homophobia and assault. Won a Peabody Award and a Primetime Emmy.

James Acaster · 2018

Four interlocking hours filmed at the Tabernacle in Notting Hill, London, with the fourth tying the other three together.

Johan Glans · 2018

Third instalment of the World Tour series, for which Glans performed stand-up on every continent except Antarctica. Streams on TV4 Play.

John Mulaney · 2018

Filmed at Radio City Music Hall. Won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special and topped Vulture's 2018 list.

Anne-Kat Hærland · 2018

Anne-Kat Hærland is assigned the Middle Ages and has to turn the period into a stand-up show.

Christian Mikkelsen · 2018

Christian Mikkelsen is given mass extinction as his topic and travels to Svalbard with palaeontologist Jørn Hurum.

Dag Sørås · 2018

Dag Sørås is given five days to build a stand-up show about the Black Death, and is sent to Kazakhstan to work alongside plague researchers.

Erlend Osnes · 2018

Erlend Osnes is given parasites as his topic and far too little time to build the show.

Hans Morten Hansen · 2018

Hans Morten Hansen is given bee decline as his topic and works on the world's first bee vaccine before performing.

Siri Kristiansen · 2018

Siri Kristiansen performs stand-up about chronic wasting disease in a village that has just watched its wild reindeer herd be culled.

Ricky Gervais · 2018

Gervais's first special in seven years, on celebrity, mortality and offence.

Dagfinn Lyngbø · 2018

Lyngbø's fifth solo show, about striving and ambition. Runs roughly 70 minutes.

Dave Chappelle · 2017

Two hours released together on New Year's Eve 2017: Equanimity, filmed at the Warner Theatre in Washington D.C., and The Bird Revelation, a club set. The pairing won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album.

Dave Chappelle · 2017

Chappelle's Netflix debut, released as two specials on one page: The Age of Spin filmed at the Hollywood Palladium and Deep in the Heart of Texas at Austin City Limits. Won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album.

Hasan Minhaj · 2017

A one-man storytelling show about growing up Indian-American in California. Won a Peabody Award.

Jerry Seinfeld · 2017

Filmed at the Comic Strip in New York, the club where Seinfeld started, interleaving early material with archival footage.

Neal Brennan · 2017

Structured around three microphones on stage: one for one-liners, one for stand-up and one for confessional monologue about depression.

Patton Oswalt · 2017

Oswalt's first hour after the death of his wife Michelle McNamara. The closing section deals directly with grief.

Sarah Silverman · 2017

Silverman's first special after emergency surgery for epiglottitis, which the hour addresses directly. Grammy- and Emmy-nominated.

Vir Das · 2017

Cut between a large arena show in New Delhi and a small club set in New York. The first Netflix stand-up special by an Indian comedian.

Ali Wong · 2016

Filmed at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle while Wong was seven months pregnant. The special made her a headliner.

Bo Burnham · 2016

Burnham's third special, a theatre show mixing songs, staging and lighting cues with direct address about performance itself.

Finn Arve Sørbøe · 2016

Finn Arve Sørbøe riffs on the origins and oddities of language in a critically praised show recorded at Chat Noir in Oslo.

Trine Lise Olsen · 2015

Trine Lise Olsen's stand-up show about growing up in a children's home in 1980s Finnmark and losing both parents.

Tig Notaro · 2015

Notaro's HBO hour, filmed after her cancer treatment and double mastectomy. She performs part of it topless.

2014

Gala marking the tenth anniversary of the Latter comedy club at Aker Brygge in Oslo, with a large ensemble of Norwegian comedians.

Bill Burr · 2014

Shot in black and white at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, and widely treated as Burr's breakout hour.

Mike Birbiglia · 2013

Filmed version of Birbiglia's off-Broadway solo show, a single long-form autobiographical narrative rather than a set of bits.

Johan Glans · 2012

Johan Glans returns to the stand-up stage after years in film, TV and theatre, covering everything from babies to Scandinavian differences. Streams on TV4 Play.

Maria Bamford · 2012

Performed in Bamford's living room for an audience of two, her parents. Ranked fourth on Time Out's all-time best stand-up specials list.

Pernille Sørensen · 2012

A warm stand-up show about performing and trying to be perfect in everyday life, and how that shaped her upbringing.

Patrice O'Neal · 2011

O'Neal's only full-length hour special, taped for Comedy Central months before his death at 41.

Anders Matthesen · 2010

Matthesen returns to the classic stand-up set-up, on the theme of thinking for yourself.

Mick Øgendahl · 2009

Øgendahl's critically praised show, mixing raw stand-up with a road-movie about two brothers driving to Sweden.

Chris Rock · 2008

Assembled from three performances in New York, London and Johannesburg cut together into a single hour. Won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special.

George Carlin · 2008

Carlin's fourteenth and final HBO special, broadcast four months before his death. It won a posthumous Grammy for Best Comedy Album.

Tim Minchin · 2008

Minchin's musical-comedy show filmed on the UK and Australia tour, the release that established him internationally.

Brian Regan · 2007

Comedy Central special from a comic widely regarded as a master of clean observational stand-up.

Zach Galifianakis · 2007

Filmed at San Francisco's Purple Onion and interleaved with mock-documentary segments featuring a fictional twin brother. A landmark of the alt-comedy era.

Jim Gaffigan · 2006

Comedy Central special containing the Hot Pockets routine, the hour that established Gaffigan's clean, food-centred act and inner-voice device.

George Carlin · 2005

Carlin's thirteenth HBO special, performed at the Beacon Theatre. Contains A Modern Man and Dumb Americans, and is his darkest hour.

Chris Rock · 2004

Taped in Washington D.C. on the Black Ambition Tour, Rock's fourth HBO hour and a Grammy winner.

Ellen DeGeneres · 2003

DeGeneres's HBO return to stand-up, taped at the Beacon Theatre, marking her comeback after her sitcom was cancelled following her 1997 coming out.

2001

Concert film spin-off of The Original Kings of Comedy featuring Mo'Nique, Adele Givens, Sommore and Laura Hayes. Available free and full-length on the official YouTube Movies channel.

Dave Chappelle · 2000

Chappelle's HBO hour taped in Washington D.C., released two years before Chappelle's Show and widely treated as his breakthrough.

2000

Spike Lee's concert film of the Kings of Comedy tour, featuring Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac.

Chris Rock · 1999

Rock's third solo HBO special, taped at the Apollo Theater. It won the Grammy for Best Spoken Comedy Album.

Eddie Izzard · 1999

Filmed in San Francisco, the show that broke Izzard in America and won two Emmy Awards.

George Carlin · 1999

HBO special taped at the Beacon Theatre, including the Airport Security, Fear of Germs and Religion routines.

Eddie Izzard · 1996

Izzard's breakthrough filmed show, recorded on the UK tour of the same name, in the stream-of-consciousness style that influenced a generation of British comics.

Bill Hicks · 1993

The last special Hicks taped, recorded at the Dominion Theatre in London for Channel 4 and broadcast the year before his death. Routinely named his definitive hour.

Bill Hicks · 1992

Filmed at the Montreal Just for Laughs festival. One of the two recordings that made Hicks's reputation in the UK.

George Carlin · 1992

Carlin's first HBO special performed live in his home city. It won the 1992 CableACE Award and Carlin himself often named it his best.

Bill Hicks · 1989

Hicks's first full-length filmed special, taped in Austin, Texas, establishing the persona and material that defined the rest of his career.

Eddie Murphy · 1987

Shot at the Felt Forum in New York and released theatrically. It remains the highest-grossing stand-up concert film ever made.

Billy Connolly · 1985

Connolly's mid-1980s London concert, one of the defining records of his stadium-scale storytelling style. Official label release on the artist's YouTube topic channel.

Whoopi Goldberg · 1985

Filmed record of Goldberg's one-woman Broadway show, directed by Mike Nichols, the character-monologue performance that launched her screen career.

Richard Pryor · 1982

Pryor's return-to-the-stage concert film, taped at the Hollywood Palladium, in which he addresses the freebasing fire that nearly killed him.

Steve Martin · 1980

Martin's second NBC special, built from sketches rather than a straight stand-up set, from the peak of his arena-comedy fame.

George Carlin · 1977

Carlin's first HBO special and one of the earliest entries in HBO's On Location series, which effectively created the modern hour-long comedy special.

Richard Pryor · 1971

Pryor's earliest filmed concert, taped at New York's Improvisation club in 1971 and not commercially released until 1985. Captures him mid-transition to the confessional voice of his later work.

Andy Kaufman · 2023

Alex Braverman's portrait of Andy Kaufman's life and career, premiered at the 80th Venice Film Festival.

George Carlin · 2022

Two-part HBO documentary tracing George Carlin's career and his repeated reinventions as a comedian. Reference entry: no streaming offer verified.

2021

Documentary on women in American stand-up, featuring Fortune Feimster, Judy Gold, Marina Franklin and Nikki Glaser. Reference entry: no streaming offer verified.

Mike Binder · 2020

Five-part Showtime documentary miniseries directed by Mike Binder on the history of the Los Angeles club and the comics it made.

Larry Charles · 2019

Four-part Netflix documentary series in which Larry Charles seeks out comedy in war zones and repressive states.

Robin Williams · 2018

Marina Zenovich's HBO documentary on Robin Williams' life and comedy, built largely from his own archive and voice.

Gilbert Gottfried · 2017

Documentary on the life and career of Gilbert Gottfried, contrasting his stage persona with his private family life. Available free and full-length on the official YouTube Movies channel.

2016

Documentary on the craft and toll of stand-up, featuring Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Jerry Lewis, Billy Connolly and Stephen K. Amos.

2016

Ferne Pearlstein's documentary asking whether the Holocaust can ever be a subject for comedy, with Mel Brooks, Sarah Silverman and survivor Renee Firestone. Reference entry: no streaming offer verified.

Kevin Pollak · 2015

Kevin Pollak interviews dozens of comedians about whether misery and pain are prerequisites for being funny. Available free and full-length on the official YouTube Movies channel.

Richard Pryor · 2013

Marina Zenovich's biographical documentary on the life, work and self-destruction of Richard Pryor. Reference entry: no streaming offer verified.

2010

Jordan Brady's documentary on the stand-up comedy world, following working comics and Ritch Shydner's return to the stage.

Joan Rivers · 2010

A year in the life of Joan Rivers, documenting her relentless work ethic, card-file joke archive and fear of an empty calendar.

Bill Hicks · 2009

Biographical documentary on Bill Hicks told through animated photo collage and interviews with family and friends. Available free and full-length on the official YouTube Movies channel.

2009

Documentary based on Darryl J. Littleton's book, tracing the history and social role of African-American comedy. Reference entry: no streaming offer verified.

Jamie Kennedy · 2007

Documentary about hecklers and critics, and how performers absorb and answer hostility from the room.

Don Rickles · 2007

John Landis' documentary on insult comic Don Rickles, his Las Vegas years and his peers' regard for him.

2005

Documentary in which around 100 comedians each tell and dissect the same taboo-breaking dirty joke.

Patton Oswalt · 2005

Documents the alt-comedy club tour of Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis, Brian Posehn and Maria Bamford. Reference entry: no streaming offer verified.

Jerry Seinfeld · 2002

Documentary following Jerry Seinfeld as he builds an entirely new act from scratch after retiring his old material, intercut with up-and-comer Orny Adams. Reference entry: no streaming offer verified.

Lenny Bruce · 1998

Robert B. Weide's Oscar-nominated documentary on Lenny Bruce's career and obscenity prosecutions, narrated by Robert De Niro. Reference entry: no streaming offer verified.

Fran Solomita's documentary chronicling the 1980s Boston stand-up boom and comics including Denis Leary, Steven Wright and Barry Crimmins.

Independent comedy label that produces, distributes and markets stand-up specials and albums.

The BBC's comedy channel, carrying stand-up and comedy clips from across its output.