Hot for My Name

Esther Povitsky’s brand of comedy thrives on a very specific type of weaponized insecurity. She leans into the absurdity of being an attention-seeking millennial, building bits around her old-fashioned name, her Instagram stalking habits, and the underwhelming reality of a romantic getaway where her boyfriend knelt down just to tell her he was not proposing. The stand-up is intercut with documentary footage of a trip home to Skokie, Illinois, where Povitsky tries to trace her neuroses back to her source: her disappointed parents, who remain thoroughly unimpressed by her Hollywood career.\n\nFilmed at the Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles across four separate shows, the special functions as a fashion showcase for Povitsky’s elaborate outfits and butterfly hair clips. At the time of its 2020 release on Comedy Central, she was already a familiar face on television, starring in Hulu’s Dollface and having co-created Freeform’s Alone Together. The Happy Madison-produced hour features Povitsky singing a musical number about inheriting her dad’s looks instead of her mother’s, likening herself to a slice of pizza in the bedroom, and physically rifling through an audience member’s purse.