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IanTalk: Ideas Not Worth Spreading

Ian Edwards

Comedy Central · 2019 · 45 min

A deadpan slideshow of deeply unhelpful ideas.

Watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Ian Edwards spends his first hour-long stand-up special trying to see how deep of a hole he can dig for himself, using a clicker and a slide deck. The special is built around a literal spin on a TED Talk. It starts with Bill Burr using a headset microphone to introduce Edwards in front of large red letters that spell ‘TED’. Once Edwards takes the stage, the letters rotate to read ‘IAN,’ setting up a slide-show presentation of fifteen contrarian, deliberately unhelpful ideas. Edwards targets the highly reverent cultural status of sushi chefs, arguing that cold rice and raw fish are not exactly the pinnacle of culinary achievement. He tackles the logistics of child support, proposing that women should march for men’s right to avoid paying it. Other slides offer his rationale for why he refuses to learn how to swim, his thoughts on the Harriet Tubman twenty-dollar bill, and a breakdown of why drug dealers make terrible business partners. Filmed at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California, the 2019 Comedy Central release arrived at a point when Edwards was already widely recognized as a ‘comic’s comic.’ Though it was his first televised hour, he had spent over two decades writing for television shows like Saturday Night Live, Black-ish, and The Boondocks. The hour was produced under Burr’s All Things Comedy banner, offering a structured, conceptual framework that kept his low-key, deadpan delivery from drifting.

The set list

6 bits

  1. Refusing to learn how to swim

    Argues that avoiding swimming is actually a sensible decision made for his own personal safety.

  2. Women's march and abortion

    Framed through child support costs, joking that women marching for reproductive rights are effectively marching for men not having to pay child support.

  3. Media advice on peaceful protest

    Points out the absurdity of the media instructing protesters to be peaceful like Martin Luther King Jr., noting 'they shot him.'

  4. Riots

    Jokes that riots serve as 'black people's Shark Week.'

  5. Lena Dunham

    Examines why white women love Lena Dunham significantly more than Black women do.

  6. Harriet Tubman

    Presents an edgy, alternative perspective on the historical figure.

How it plays

Tone
Edgy, dark, self-deprecating, and topical.
On stage
An authentic blend of charm and self-deprecating humor with an edgy, deadpan twist on a TED Talk speaker asking the crowd for consent to speak freely.
Pace
Engaged and kept on his toes by cycling through roughly 15 topics on a monitor.
About
abortion and child support, racial politics and protests, dating and relationships, refusal to learn to swim, wealth and inequality, historical figures

What the critics said

Praised for cleverly satirizing the TED Talk trend while demonstrating Edwards' distinct skill for developing provocative one-liners into rich, layered premises.

In the room: Energetic room featuring one or two particularly distinct, loud laughers audible throughout the taping.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: thetvdb.com, allmovie.com, broadwayworld.com, thecomicscomic.com, foxla.com, humormilltv.com, vanyaland.com, forbes.com.

Backstory

Part of an All Things Comedy production deal with Comedy Central; conceived to parody and lean into the trend of comedians critiquing stand-up hours that resemble TED Talks. Edwards dedicated the special to the late comedian Brody Stevens, who warmed up the crowd for the taping.

Details

Released
Runtime
45 min
Where
Comedy Central
Director
Aristotle Athiras
Topics
Before
Bill Burr Presents IanTalk: Ideas Not Worth Spreading (2019)
After
Untitled (2025)

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