By Nick A. Zaino III Globe correspondent, Updated July 24, 2025
Everyone needs to laugh, especially in challenging times. And no matter what it is that gets your belly shaking, streaming services from Netflix to Tubi to YouTube have hundreds of comedy specials that will get the job done for you. But how do you pick among all of those options? This list offers 15 choices to get you started.
Since I could write a new list of 15 specials every day for weeks with no repetition, I had to narrow the scope a bit. First, the choices here are at least 45 minutes to an hour, the gold standard of a stand-up special. Next, I broke the specials down into three categories: legends, locals, and landmarks. That means big names like Pryor and Carlin, Boston comics like Josh Gondelman and Bill Burr, and recent specials that brought something new to the form.
The Legends
1. Richard Pryor — “Live & Smokin’“ (1971; Peacock, Tubi, PlutoTV): There are longer, perhaps more celebrated Pryor specials, but this is the comedian before his fame blew up, at a small club, The Improvisation in New York, rather than a giant theatre. It feels intimate. The laughter isn’t sweetened, and you can read the menu behind him on the wall. The material is raw and challenging. And it would be a few years before the idea of the stand-up special would be defined and codified by HBO.
2. George Carlin — “Carlin at Carnegie” (1983; Prime Video, Tubi, PlutoTV, Fandango at Home, Roku Channel, Freevee, Hoopla): Carlin was the king of comedy specials in his time, filming 14 of them from 1977 to 2008, and went through several onstage personas. So it’s hard to choose which one to highlight among them. His delivery was still gentle and silly here, but he showcases every tool in his kit, from physical comedy to social satire, plus an update on the “7 Dirty Words.”
