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Double Negative

Ari Shaffir

Netflix · 2017

Two blunt comedy sets about why you shouldn't have kids.

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Ari Shaffir does not want kids, and he is happy to spend forty minutes explaining why. He structures his arguments into a pair of distinct sets: one about the miseries of parenting, and another about the messy, unstructured freedom of remaining single into middle age. He works the room with a flat, cynical delivery that treats conventional life milestones as traps.

The sets were filmed on the same night at the Cap City Comedy Club in Austin, Texas. Shaffir took a brief intermission to change his shirt and alter the stage lighting, keeping the same crowd in their seats for both performances. The first half features stories about a friend’s Tinder mishap and his own decision to get a vasectomy. The second set pivots to international travel, aging without traditional milestones, and a bit analyzing why his refusal to sleep with a gay friend might make him a bad person.

This release came at a turning point in Shaffir’s career, following his departure from hosting the Comedy Central storytelling show he created, This Is Not Happening. By moving to Netflix, he brought his club-honed style to a massive audience. Critics noted that the transition did not soften his delivery, which remained as unapologetically grim as ever.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Adoption versus biological children

    Compares adoption to picking up quality free agents in sports rather than building a team through the draft

  2. Getting pregnant from a Tinder date

    Uses a friend's Tinder pregnancy as an overarching narrative thread through which he examines the realities of modern child rearing

  3. Soiling oneself as an adult

    Explores the indignities and practicalities of adult accidents

  4. Benefits of not having children

    Recounts traveling to Thailand and exploring his sexuality without the constraints of domestic family life

  5. Adult uses for Neosporin

    Discusses the utilitarian realities of unattached adult bachelor living

How it plays

Tone
Raunchy, edgy, wry, and bleak
On stage
Puerile yet cerebral, dirty-minded, unpolished, authentic, and unapologetic
Pace
Fast-paced delivery with wide-eyed emphasis and conversational looseness
About
Childhood and children, Adulthood and bachelorhood, Parenting vs. remaining child-free, Sexuality and relationships, Abortion

What the critics said

Praised as Shaffir's most ambitious and accomplished work, noted for its subtle, seamless craftsmanship and daring double-special release structure

In the room: Intimate, authentic comedy club atmosphere where the same live audience stayed across both sets separated by a short intermission

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: filmaffinity.com, theinterrobang.com, flixpatrol.com, vulture.com, thecomicscomic.com, thecomedybureau.com, develop.neon.reviewjournal.com, en.m.wikipedia.org, brieftake.com.

Backstory

Facing societal and familial pressure in his forties to marry and have children, Ari opted to explore the contrast between family life and child-free adulthood, inspired by the Smashing Pumpkins double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Details

Released
Taped
Cap City Comedy Club, Austin
Where
Netflix
Director
Eric Abrams
Honors
Named one of 2017's best comedic offerings by the Las Vegas Review-Journal
Topics
Before
Paid Regular (2015)
After
Double Negative (Children) (2017)

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