Drew Michael

Stand-up typically relies on the oxygen of a crowded room, but Drew Michael throws out the audience, the stage, the microphone, and the immediate feedback of laughter. Instead, he speaks directly to the camera from a pitch-black, cavernous studio, treating the medium as a direct confessional rather than a communal celebration. It is a highly stylized, cinematic experiment that forces you to sit with the silence of his premises. At one point, the audio cuts out entirely and captions fill the screen, forcing the viewer to experience the world through the comic’s own hearing impairment.

Directed by Jerrod Carmichael, the 2018 HBO release came at a transitional point for Michael, who had recently wrapped up a stint writing for Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update. The hour weaves together his stage-style monologue with surreal, FaceTime-style video calls with a former partner, played by actress Suki Waterhouse. Michael tackles severe depression, masculinity, relationships, and contracting herpes, never softening his observations for a crowd that isn’t there to receive them. Critics praised the hour for its formal ambition, though the total absence of a crowd inevitably polarized viewers who expected a traditional stand-up show.