The Jester’s Privilege ~ Andrew Santino: Cheeseburger
Netflix starts their 2023 season of comedy about how one would expect them to: with some mildly offensive jokes and a confusing metaphor, delivered by some dude.
Okay, well, he isn’t just some dude. He’s Andrew Santino, and he’s done pretty well for himself at this stage of his career at age 39. With possibly the obscenest variety of an IMDb page, Santino has found roles in all types of media from the critically-acclaimed drama This is Us, to the comedy TV show equivalent of a sleep paralysis demon, Punk’d (Its horrifying presence sticks around way longer than anyone realizes, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it? That’s a sleep paralysis demon). However, the Internet dwellers might recognize this dude more as a podcaster. Gen Z might know him from saying this to Bobby Lee, while millennials may be hung up on how the Bobby Lee still has a public persona in the first place.
Even with a small catalog of stand-up in his career, this being his first with Netflix, Santino seems to boast his main thrust of his career to being a comedian. While I am not familiar with previous specials of his, I will agree his stage presence as a comic was quite natural. The reason I called him “some dude,” at the beginning of this is because the persona he exuded to the audience was very friendly and conversational. He snatches the attention of his viewers very subtly and keeps it without much effort at all.
Sadly, the other reason that he is “some dude” is that the material was far from anything special. You want COVID jokes about anti-vaxxers? He’s got it. First time getting a prostate exam? He’s here to tell you about it. You want global warming jokes about polar bears dying? You’re a sick fuck, but they’re in there. As funny as some of the observations were, all of them were thematically stuff any given person would have heard before.
My thoughts on this special could probably be encapsulated best with the title metaphor. One of the bits in the show was about how he doesn’t know how he feels about legacy and the longevity of his comedy career, and that he would rather be a cheeseburger: just be enjoyed while you have it. That is a nice thought, and an honestly sweet moment of a night of mostly raunchy humor. But then he segued deeper into the metaphor, saying everyone makes cheeseburgers differently, and it’s up to each individual audience member to make their own when it comes to his material… wait what? How is it on the audience to create context of YOUR comedy? Isn’t that YOUR job? To create the cheeseburger and for the audience to eat it? Why am I making the cheeseburger?? I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR THIS I DON’T EVEN HAVE A GRILL-
The point is, Santino seems like a good guy, a smart guy even. He succeeds on being likable on the mic, and even had a few gems scattered throughout the show. Overall, though, it left me wishing for more, and the optimist in me believes he could. I’m willing to try his stuff again, but like any other cheeseburger, if you don’t add anything special to it, it is just going to be fine.
4.5/10
