Good Guy

Nick Thune spent years establishing himself as a deadpan indie stand-up with an acoustic guitar draped over his shoulder, delivering surreal one-liners. For his second hour-long special, filmed at the Star Theater in Portland, Oregon, the guitar is entirely gone. Thune originally ditched the instrument out of necessity after breaking his arm, only to realize he preferred the vulnerability of holding just a microphone. The resulting show is a deliberate pivot toward storytelling, built around his impending parenthood and his questionable credentials as a responsible adult.\n\nReleased on NBC’s short-lived streaming platform Seeso in December 2016, the special finds Thune leaning into a highly detached stage persona. He presents a series of self-absorbed anecdotes designed to test the limits of the title, including a story about his dog getting into his weed edibles, a petulant stand-off with his wife’s obstetrician during a prenatal scan, and a bizarrely mishandled encounter with a potential suicide jumper. While some critics found his low-wattage delivery a bit too nonchalant, the hour captured a performer actively dismantling the style that made him famous.