I had to google a bit about both comedian Langston Kerman and Jewish comedy in order to get the full context of the comedian’s latest Netflix special, interestingly titled Bad Poetry. It was already funny and relevant for me, but the research post-watch enhanced the experience further. This is the first time I have seen Kerman perform, and I have no doubt that I’ll start following the Jewish comedian from now on.
Kerman happens to be a black Jewish man in his mid-thirties, but complexion-wise, he is almost white. That’s how he is introduced on the stage. Later, he goes on to explain that his father is white and his mother is black, resulting in him looking the way he does. He goes on telling the audience that his wife is also the same as him before landing on a hilarious white baby joke that’s so subtle that you might miss it if you weren’t paying attention. Speaking of babies, Kerman happens to be a new girl-dad as well. One of the best jokes of his set has to be the one where he starts talking about how people react when they see his baby. Compared to how euphoric he feels as a father, people’s responses are rather underwhelming, limited to things like saying “cute”. Kerman doesn’t like it. He wouldn’t accept anything less than someone going absolute berserk by comparing the baby to the clouds and thinking about soft touches, but that essentially makes them “pedophiles” for the baby. It’s an avant-garde joke for sure, which Kerman presents nonchalantly.
Kerman’s opening bit is also something that you wouldn’t see. He starts talking about his mother-in-law and how she has authorized him to take over her dating app and run things for her. That obviously means Kerman has to flirt with older (and often creepy) men. And he has no shame admitting that he actually enjoys the whole thing. He even mentions that the first thing he does every morning is check the messages he has received on the app. Kerman doesn’t end the bit there. Instead, he makes it a recurring one. He plays messages he received from men in the app throughout the episode. One of the messages is from an older gentleman talking about love. Apparently, he loves to love. It’s a hilarious monologue that’s also creepy because you’re getting to hear the voice. Also, the funniest part here is the whole voice message being a reply to a question as basic as what does the man like to eat?
The best thing about Kerman’s set is probably him not holding back on anything and having the courage to touch controversial topics—from dropping truth-bombs about things like our childhood heroes turning into monsters and how they shouldn’t be worshiped, to talking about his mother marrying more than a few in search of love. There’s this debate been going on forever regarding Walt Disney being anti-Semitic. Kerman, being a Jewish comedian, addresses that in a humorous manner. He starts talking about people he went to school with, where at least someone in his class was deranged enough to draw pornography. That was clearly a violation of Walt Disney’s vision for kids. Disney is obviously seen as a pioneer of entertainment for children, and his brand is usually wholesome and clean fun, compared to kids drawing obscene cartoons in class. While he is at it, Kerman addresses his fear of his Jewish kids turning out to be not so good people in the future. What if they become serial killers or something even worse than that—people who draw images of lions and morph that with female genitalia?
Bad Poetry particularly benefits from not having a signature tone or a particular theme. Kerman just keeps talking about certain things, and the audience flows with him. One of my personal favorite bits of the set would be Kerman sharing his experience of getting high on mushrooms and heckling a bunch of softball players in the park. Another one would be Kerman coming across Forest Whitaker at an IHOP and the woman at the counter not recognizing the actor, leaving everyone dumbfounded.
What makes for a good comedy special? The primary answer would be how able the comedian is in terms of making the audience laugh. By that yardstick, Kerman is falling a little short. I mean, there’s zero doubt about this standup special having all the relevance—politically, socially, and culturally—but there’s a lack of laughter quotient here. And the reason behind that has to be the choice of topics Karman decides to make his show about. His jokes are often too subtle, and it takes a moment for him to actually get to them—like the one I mentioned about “white baby” earlier. That said, it’s not at all the comedian’s fault. There are many comedians on Netflix who mostly rely on inherent misogyny, casual racism, and many more problematic things (in the name of comedy) in order to bring in the big bucks. I find these comedians, many of whom are American males in their late forties/early fifties (mostly white but sometimes black as well), intolerable. Not to mention, they’re almost never actually funny. And the reason I am bringing this up here is to make an argument in favor of Kerman, who might not be “haha funny,” but his show is filled with jokes that are witty and relevant and also tons of effective anecdotes. For me, that’s a recipe that makes for a genuinely good comedy show. If you think otherwise, then Bad Poetry is not your thing.
