Rory Scovel Masters His Craft on Religion, Sex, and a Few Things in Between

There are few comedians I want to hear wax lyrical about the social niceties at a gangbang or “buckets’ worth of whale cum,” but Rory Scovel is the rare exception. On February 22, he released an early contender for best comedy special of the year—Religion, Sex, and a Few Things in Between—on Max. I know, this review is coming out nearly a month later, but the magazine’s called Paste, not haste.

Scovel has long been something of a comic’s comic, flying under the radar for most but inspiring ardor in those lucky folks who’ve encountered him. Scovel’s profile grew thanks to his delightful part in Babylon as haphazard drug dealer The Count, though he still deserves more recognition. And his new special—Religion, Sex, and a Few Things in Between—has only made me a more fervent Scovel fan.

Filmed in Minneapolis, Scovel’s latest special is kaleidoscopic. He jumps from subject to subject and slips in and out of accents at the drop of a hat, but these bits and characters are interlaced in a way that creates a larger, grander image from the madness. Scovel famously is not a fan of listening back to and editing his work; as he told Mike Behrends in a Paste interview, “I truly think that if I could get myself to do that as my process, I could really explode my career.” Well, Scovel did just that on this latest tour, and as a result Religion, Sex, and a Few Things in Between is his best structured and pithiest work to date. Nearly every beat elicits a laugh, or builds to one that’s coming soon. And I should clarify that while this is Scovel’s best constructed special so far, there’s no overarching narrative—the title itself really says it all. However, he really plumbs the depths of the themes at hand and maximizes each bit. This is structure, Scovel-style.

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Of course, Scovel is as present as ever, improvising and responding to the audience, and he possesses a hyper-self-awareness that adds another layer to the set. He’ll call a timeout, or comment on the audience’s reaction to a particular joke. His intense engagement with the moment at hand is what keeps us with him, even through the push and pull of his set. Scovel will propose an idea that might put the viewer on edge, but his intent—to keep us laughing, rather than to shock—makes these dicier bits work. There’s a lot of goodwill in the room for Scovel, and he doesn’t take that for granted. He plays with it, batting around our expectations like a kitten with a ball of yarn until our notions are utterly unraveled and we’re left in stitches.

On Religion, Sex, and a Few Things in Between, Scovel proves that he deserves mainstream success.

Religion, Sex, and a Few Things in Between is streaming now on Max.

Clare Martin is a cemetery enthusiast and Paste’s assistant comedy editor. Go harass her on Twitter @theclaremartin.