2024 Is the Year of the Thoughtful Masculinity Comedy Special

Right-wing pundits love to talk about the death of masculinity and how feminism hurts men at large. However, feminism aims not only to help women achieve equality, but also to eliminate the ways in which toxic masculinity harms all people, regardless of gender. Thoughtful depictions of masculinity in the media show that being a man doesn’t have to be tied to the violence and emotional repression traditionally associated with the patriarchy. These scripts can be rewritten—and some of those helping to rework them are comedians. 

The year of our Lord 2024 has seen the release of four comedy specials by men—Conner O’Malley, Brad Howe, Dan Licata, and Carmen Christopher—that criticize, deconstruct, and reimagine masculinity. It’s no coincidence either that these four comics have collaborated in the past, usually on Joe Pera-related projects. However, their approaches to the topic of masculinity, while all reflective, vary as much as their insightful, uproarious comedy does.

First we have Conner O’Malley, whose hour Stand Up Solutions topped our list for the best comedy specials of 2024 so far. The comic regularly criticizes hypermasculinity and the super macho bravado that comes along with it, including in his recent short film Coreys. Stand Up Solutions is an especially pointed condemnation of harmful patriarchal norms. O’Malley performs as Richard Eagleton, a man who presents himself as a successful tech entrepreneur, when in reality he’s a sad sack who’s been ditched by his wife and is stuck in a financial hole. Richard embodies every disillusioned man who’s been let down by the system he was told he would benefit from. Instead of seeing the structures in place—capitalism, patriarchy, etc.—as at fault, he doubles down on their promises. He listens to a “Classic Rock Guided Meditation,” picturing his ideal life with a 4,000 square-foot home in Nevada and imagining that he’ll get there by harnessing AI. Connection and love don’t have any place in his utopia, just status and the vague notion of “success.” Through ridiculous CGI and surreal imagery, O’Malley shows us the hollowness at the heart of hypermasculinity. 

Brad Howe takes an opposite tack, showing us the joy to be found in the trappings of masculinity when they’re divorced from their toxic implications. In Live from the Legion, Howe takes to the mic as a fictionalized version of himself and archetype of a very specific kind of New England man—one who drinks light beer, listens to The Doobie Brothers, and coaches the local Little League team. He opens the set with an original song, “Pencil Neck Geek,” that acknowledges some of the baggage that comes along with this persona: “See I’m a master of suppression / Never dealt with my depression.” However, most of the special basks in the charms of this type of guy; he’s the life of the party, a pillar of the community, and just an all-around good time. The special reminded me of something my friend said after we watched Top Gun Maverick, which is that it would be a perfect film if you thought of the United States as being a fictional, fantastical place, like Narnia. Likewise, there’s something enticing about considering masculinity in the abstract, as a combination of positive attributes and aesthetic choices unattached to its complex, often bellicose reality. I enjoyed slipping on some rose-colored glasses for Howe’s contemplative, somewhat nostalgic take on masculinity.   

Dan Licata’s special makes no bones about its target viewer—it’s rightly named For the Boys. The hour sees Licata playing a heightened version of himself and returning to his high school alma mater. His visit underscores how society’s changed since Licata’s adolescence in the early noughties, particularly in terms of male ambitions. He storms in enthusiastically calling the teenagers “pimps” and joking about hot boxing the school elevator, only to be discouraged when he discovers the kids he’s talking to are aspiring to careers in engineering and sports medicine. In some ways, Licata shows how far we’ve come and how certain modes of masculinity have become outdated. At the same time, he reminds us that embracing the childish, sophomoric side of masculinity can be a thing of beauty. Licata references his love of Jackass throughout the special, and it feels fitting considering recent reappraisals of the iconic series that applaud the vulnerable male friendships at its heart. For the Boys looks to the past and reminds us that there’s a place for silliness within our reimagined modern masculinity. 

Finally, we have Carmen Christopher, who released his comedy special Live from the Windy City on Veeps earlier this month. Christopher’s approach most closely parallels Licata’s, examining how much men’s behavior, or the perception of men’s behavior, has transformed over recent years. Near the end of the special, he invites two audience members on stage to play out a scene in which they’re his old friends O’Brien and Nico from Chicago. The dialogue highlights how much Christopher has changed in comparison to his hometown pals, who he unflatteringly paints as backwards bozos. As he tells them, “It’s no easy task juggling being a comedian and a social justice warrior to better help serve my career.” Throughout the special, he has an ongoing bit about needing to apologize for different jokes, skewering the fake sincerity of men who feel worse about getting in trouble than the harm they’ve caused. Christopher pokes fun at the male feminists who think that a social media post is enough to combat rampant prejudice. He’s self-deprecating, showing that however far men have come in confronting their own internalized biases, there are still strides to be made. 

For every edgelord comic who uses their profession as a front for spewing hatred, there are inventive stand-ups like these who may not necessarily set out to rewrite cultural scripts, but end up doing so while still killing with crowds.