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Josh Johnson has a calm, conversational cadence and a knack for taking long, scenic detours through a story. Released in June 2021, his debut hour-long special focuses on the screen-addicted isolation of the pandemic and the subsequent friction of trying to live in the real world again. His routines are less about heavy political commentary and more about highly specific, bizarre human interactions, from his survival-mode reaction to a bee getting caught in his hair to a friend’s potentially racist pet bird and the dark side of high school catfishing pranks. At this point in his career, Johnson was best known as a writer for The Daily Show. Host Trevor Noah presented the special, which capped off a year where Variety named Johnson one of its 10 Comics to Watch. Critics at NPR, Paste, and Vulture listed the hour among the best specials of 2021, establishing his transition from a reliable late-night writer to a headliner in his own right.