Schulz Saves America
Netflix · 2020 · 68 min
Andrew Schulz's first special since 5:5:1 (2018). Released on Netflix.
The set list
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Origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and political response
Labels the coronavirus 'the Asian parasite' and 'Wuhanic Plague', blaming the Chinese government while mocking political hypocrisy and overbearing pandemic restrictions such as filling skate parks with sand.
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Conspiracy theories and Jeffrey Epstein
Explores how Epstein's death served as fuel and the pandemic as flame for online paranoia, tying conspiracy culture to QAnon and skewering figures like Woody Allen.
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Black Lives Matter and policing
Expresses support for the BLM movement while criticizing its leadership, arguing for 'restructuring the police' rather than defunding or abolishing.
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Cable news and media division
Attacks partisan media figures like Anderson Cooper and Tucker Carlson, accusing mainstream news networks of deliberately driving national division for corporate profits and ratings.
How it plays
- Tone
- Provocative, dark, cynical, biting, and satirical.
- On stage
- Aggressive, unfiltered, cynical, provocative, and irreverent persona delivering sitting-down monologues with manspreading bravado.
- Pace
- Extreme rapid-fire, breathless, machine-gun pace packed with jokes and dense visual cues.
- About
- COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures, Conspiracy theories and predatory figures, Black Lives Matter and police reform, Presidential politics and media polarization
What the critics said
Met with backlash for xenophobic and anti-Asian rhetoric regarding COVID-19, and received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics who faulted its exhaustive rehashing of 2020 grievances and macho presentation, despite praise from online fans for its relentless joke density and bipartisan attacks.
In the room: Delivered without a live studio audience in an empty room directly to the camera.
Backstory
Marked Andrew Schulz's debut special on Netflix after years of self-releasing content online.
Filmed in late 2020 amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, nationwide protests, and intense political division ahead of the presidential election, following a format inspired by weekly self-produced monologues Schulz posted on social media.