Comedy Central Presents: Jack Coen

Jack Coen uses his 1999 half-hour to confront the indignities of middle age, anchoring the set with an extended breakdown of his own vasectomy. Rather than relying on vague complaints about getting older, he zeroes in on the specifics of the procedure, like trying to endure small talk with a chatty surgeon while on the operating table. It is a pragmatic approach to domestic life and fatherhood.

Filmed at the Hudson Theatre in New York City for the second season of Comedy Central Presents, the 22-minute televised block catches Coen at a comfortable point in his career as a working club comic. He surrounds the family material with thoughts on the financial realities of death, aiming at the upselling tactics of greedy funeral directors.