Published on February 6th, 2013 | by StandUpTalk

Ari Shaffir Releases His New Special “Passive Aggressive”

Click here to purchase the special! – It’s just five bucks

“Well, here it is. I spent the last 14 months writing material about everything I was going through in my life and here is the result. It’s 72 minutes of some of the best jokes I’ve ever developed.

I’m stoked about this special for so many reasons. First of all, unlike a TV special, this is the material that I wanted to do with zero input from anyone in a tie. It’s from me, by me. This represents a year in my life and as such, it’s a lot darker than what you’re used to if you’re only used to glossy television specials. These are my thoughts on the futility of relationships, the feeling of having society tell you to have children while having no desire to tend for a child, and general disdain for becoming the adult our parents wanted us to turn into.

Second of all, it looks so damn good. I’m really sick of the glossy look of most television specials. That’s not what comedy is on a day to day level. Dane Cook can record his special in a theater because that’s where he normally performs comedy. Most of us do it at comedy clubs and small rock venues. It’s as physically dark in there as the material is allowed to be. I hate audience shots that are supposed to let you know it’s ok to laugh. Fuck that. You guys are smart enough to know when to laugh. So I mimicked, as close as possible, the experience of being in a club watching standup comedy.

This represents a year of my life. After I recorded my album in late 2011, I set out to develop an hour of new material in a year. And that’s what this is. I have never worked so hard at standup comedy as I did this year. And I think this special shows all my work. I hit the road for months at a time, I stopped smoking pot before noon (most days), and I tortured myself over segues, tag lines, and honesty in my material while making it as funny as possible. And the result of all that torture? 72 minutes of comedy of which I’m really proud. 72 minutes of killer dark material that is uninfluenced by a network’s need to sell soft drinks to fat people. And I offer it to each of you for five dollars. Five bucks. I’m as Jewey as anybody, but that’s nothing for how hard I worked at this. That’s under two cents per day of me losing hair, throwing temper tantrums, wallowing in self doubt, ignoring relationships, and destroying my sanity.

If you like it, please tell your friends. Put it out on Facebook before everybody stops using Facebook 5 months from now. Instagram a picture of you enjoying it with a cool sepia effect that makes you like the 70s. Tweet the shit out of it, yo. Help me out by spreading the word. It’s one of the few things I’ve ever been proud of in my life (along with my 2 abortions) and I want as many people as possible to watch it and enjoy it.

By the way, Passive Aggressive is both a line from one of my bits, and it’s an overall commentary on my way of pushing back against these societal norms that I feel inner obligation to live by. We’re not like they told us we were supposed to be and we’re not wrong. What they told us was bullshit. We can do whatever makes us happy and it doesn’t matter who looks down on us. We’ll look down on them just as hard. Really? You’re 24 and you’re already married with 2 kids? Kill yourself.”

-Ari Shaffir

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