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Bad Poetry

Langston Kerman

Netflix · 2024 · 50 min

An intimate Chicago set about catfishing elderly men and parenting.

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Langston Kerman spent years of his life writing and acting, but his debut stand-up hour is defined by his bizarre willingness to catfish elderly men on behalf of his mother-in-law. Operating her profile on an over-60 dating app, he flirts with her suitors and plays their clumsy, romantic voicemails directly over the venue’s speakers. It is a wonderfully strange anchor for a set that treats the oddities of family life with a mixture of affection and mild horror.

Directed by John Mulaney, the 50-minute set swaps grand theaters for the cozy, dimly lit confines of the Green Mill Lounge in Chicago, where the audience sits right up against the small stage. Kerman uses this close-up environment to tell highly specific stories, including the revelation that his mother married a disgraced former mascot for the Chicago Bulls (the original Benny the Bull), and his anxiety that his young daughter will grow up to draw The Lion King characters with human breasts. He also touches on his brief, humbling tenure as a high school teacher and his wife’s complete lack of faith in his ability to safely operate a microwave.

The special was widely praised upon its August 2024 release on Netflix, earning a spot on Vulture’s list of the year’s best comedy specials, with The New York Times calling it a terrific debut. Kerman keeps his delivery conversational and loose, letting the strange, specific details of his domestic life speak for themselves.

The set list

8 bits

  1. Managing his mother-in-law's dating app profiles

    Impersonating a 65-year-old woman in flirty messages and playing actual recorded voicemails from her male suitors aloud to the audience.

  2. Getting insulted by a high school student

    Acts out a disrespectful student interrupting his lesson with teenage sass to roast his adult acne and say he looks like multigrain bread.

  3. Having a baby as part of a fully bi-racial couple

    Discusses his anxiety about the unpredictability of genetics and spawning 'a little surprise white baby.'

  4. Wife assuming he will put metal in the microwave

    Rants about relationship trust issues, questioning why someone would marry him if they doubt his ability to operate a microwave.

  5. Mother marrying a disgraced sports mascot

    Details his mother's four marriages, including a romance with a down-on-his-luck professional mascot.

  6. Getting twelve McNuggets instead of ten

    Fantasizes about abandoning his life to run away with the McDonald's worker who gave him two extra nuggets.

  7. Helplessness about impending fatherhood

    Compares his feeling of helplessness about becoming a parent to being a bird trapped inside an airport.

  8. Taking mushrooms in the park with friends

    Recounts being high on psilocybin and heckling amateur softball players alongside comic Sam Jay.

How it plays

Tone
Silly, playful, absurd, witty, personal, and sharp.
On stage
Friendly and approachable on the surface ('Trojan horse' geniality) masking sharp-edged, whimsical, and weird humor.
Pace
Easy, drum-tight cadence with calculated pauses, sudden pivots back to earlier bits, and willingness to lean into strange premises.
About
fatherhood and parenting, teaching high school English and poetry, managing his mother-in-law's dating app profiles, marriage and domestic quirks, being part of a bi-racial couple, family history

What the critics said

Universally positive; praised as a sharp, confident, and delightfully bizarre hour that pairs approachable charm with precise, drum-tight joke writing.

In the room: Intimate, warm club atmosphere with roughly 100 people encircling a stage set behind the bar.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: 800poundgorillamedia.com, bbfc.co.uk, decider.com, vulture.com, readysteadycut.com, en.wikipedia.org, latenighter.com, thedailybeast.com.

Backstory

Drawing from his past career teaching poetry to high school students and his recent entry into fatherhood, with visual and atmospheric inspiration taken from the 1997 film Love Jones.

Details

Released
Taped
The Green Mill, Chicago
Runtime
50 min
Where
Netflix
Director
John Mulaney
Honors
Vulture's The Best Comedy Specials and New Stand-Up of 2024 (#9)
Topics
Before
Light Work (2018)

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