5 good comedy specials on Netflix you may have missed

We’ve all seen the new Netflix comedy specials from Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfeld and Dave Chappelle. Here’s a list of 5 comedy specials on Netflix that you might have missed.

These days, it seems, every actor with roots in stand-up comedy is returning to those roots with a comedy special, and some with Netflix. In the last year or so, we have seen new offerings from Ray Romano, Ellen Degeneres, Aziz Ansari, Kevin Hart, and more.

New specials are great, especially from stand-up’s biggest names. But what of older performances? Or shows with lesser-known comics?

Here are five groundbreaking comedy specials on Netflix that you may have missed.

Sam Kinison: Breaking the Rules (1987)

One problem with older shows: you need an American History refresher to know what’s being referenced. Kinison opens by discussing the Iran-Contra scandal. (Um, what?) Later, he skewers Pat Robertson. (Um, who?)

Called a “genius” (Rodney Dangerfield), the “voice of outrage” (Tim Matheson), and “a cuddly anti-Christ” (Robin Williams), Kinison had an unusual career trajectory, serving as a Pentecostal minister into his mid-twenties. Actually, preacher and comedian aren’t that dissimilar. Both rant, pace, sweat copiously, and appeal to a higher power, though “Jesus Christ” is an invocation for one, an epithet for the other.

No surprise, then, that his Bible-based material is his sharpest, like the observation that Jesus couldn’t be married because no wife would believe his story: leaving on a Friday with twelve other guys, staying gone for three days, and when he finally turns up, looking like he hasn’t slept at all.

Kinison was the comic’s comic. This special isn’t fall-off-your-seat funny, but when he lifts his voice to Wilhelm scream level, you know he’s breaking new ground. It’s compelling, as is his candor. He admits his drug abuse, infidelities, and spiritual struggles.

It takes heavenly spin to turn that last subject into comedy.