Double Negative (Adulthood)

Ari Shaffir spends this half of his double-header making a direct, unapologetic case for the childfree life, presenting his lack of a family as the ultimate victory. Recorded in November 2016 at Cap City Comedy Club in Austin, Texas, and released on Netflix in July 2017, the set was filmed on the same night as its companion piece, Children, in front of the exact same audience. Shaffir took a brief intermission, changed his shirt, flipped the stage lighting, and walked back out to deliver an hour of stand-up built on the premise that adulthood is best enjoyed when you have zero domestic responsibilities. This DIY double-special release was a gamble that paid off with Netflix, though it caused Comedy Central to drop him as host of the storytelling series he co-created, This Is Not Happening. While the first half of the project is a targeted attack on parenting, this portion focuses on the lifestyle you can maintain when you have total freedom, with Shaffir detailing a solo trip to Thailand, his occasional use of Neosporin as a personal lubricant, and a weirdly clinical attempt to test his own sexuality by trying to hook up with a gay friend.