Man on Fire

We like to think of ourselves as the stars of our own cinematic epics, but Chris D’Elia wants you to know that you are probably just a background extra. Performing in front of a Vancouver audience, he bases his hour around this hit to the human ego, comparing our self-important delusions to a Denzel Washington action flick while resigning himself to the role of “Comedian Number 6.” It is a structural anchor for a set that finds the comic shifting away from his earlier observational routines toward a broader, crankier worldview.

Filmed at the Vogue Theatre during the JFL NorthWest festival in early 2017, the Netflix release caught D’Elia in a transitional phase of his career. NBC had recently canceled his sitcom Undateable, and he had just launched his Congratulations podcast. Looking to bring more of his personal life to the stage, he riffs on his own divorce, his reluctance to have children, and the bizarre social obligation of buying pants for friends. He also dedicates significant time to mocking the theatricality of Broadway musicals and shredding the self-serious captions posted by fitness influencers on social media.

Though some critics found his grumpier, mock-preachy persona to border on a hostile lecture, D’Elia himself jokes on stage that the set is more of a Ted Talk than a comedy show. Still, his core audience embraced the physical nature of his delivery. He pairs his sing-song cadences with broad physical gestures, delivering high-energy mockery that highlights the absurdity of modern social media performance.