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It's About Time

Gary Gulman

Netflix · 2016 · 54 min

Sprawling observational comedy about state abbreviations and grocery shopping.

Gary Gulman excels at stretching minor, everyday irritations into massive, detailed sagas. Filmed at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, this hour features the comic turning grocery shopping and administrative history into hyper-specific narratives. He dedicates a massive portion of the set to a dramatic, escalating checkout confrontation at an Upper West Side Trader Joe’s, treating a minor queue dispute with the gravity of a classic tragedy.

Directed and produced by Bobcat Goldthwait, the hour marked Gulman’s 20th year in stand-up. It caught the veteran Bostonian at a pivotal career moment, arriving just before a severe depression would sideline his touring for years. The material here is tightly constructed, showing a comic willing to spend vast stretches of stage time examining the precise wording of synonyms, the laziness of buying a movie on iTunes that he already owns on DVD, and why the French design Yoplait yogurt specifically to undermine American values.

The centerpiece of the hour is an elaborate, fictionalized history of the committee assigned to standardize the postal system’s two-letter state abbreviations. Gulman acts out the bureaucratic clashes behind decisions like ‘AK’ and ‘AL’ with theatrical focus. Though the producers originally struggled to sell the filmed set, its eventual home on Netflix solidified his standing as one of the most meticulous writers working in comedy.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Buying a movie on iTunes despite already owning it on DVD out of sheer laziness.

    Recounts being chastised by his older brother in a thick Boston accent and countering that 'it only adds up, if you add it up.'

  2. Deconstructing the evolution of the telephone into modern smartphones.

    Contrasts his mother using 'Telephone 1.0' with modern users treating the phone as a seldom-used app, comparing calling 411 to searching Google.

  3. A fantastical reenactment of the committee that invented two-letter state abbreviations for postal efficiency.

    Treats the historical bureaucratic process as an imagined high-stakes documentary backstory.

  4. A massive confrontation and meltdown at a Trader Joe's checkout line.

    Constructs an expansive 24-minute climactic set piece beginning with a deep appreciation for the store before exploding over a rude woman abandoning her cart.

  5. Anti-Obamacare activists depicting the President with a Hitler mustache.

    Points out that der Führer's notorious legacy was hardly about socialized medicine.

How it plays

Tone
Witty, observational, clever, and righteous.
On stage
Neurotically bewildered, witty, self-assured, and possessed of righteous incredulity.
Pace
Slow-build momentum marked by eloquent digressions, long scenic-route tangents, and an infectious enthusiasm to perform.
About
Extreme laziness, Evolution of telephones and modern technology, Generational differences and spoiled modern culture, Language and word choices, Supermarket etiquette and Trader Joe's

What the critics said

Universally praised as intelligent, highly articulate, and masterfully paced, highlighting Gulman's ability to turn extended tangents and everyday irritations into comedy gold.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: netflix.com, cinetvlocations.com, trakt.tv, allmovie.com, nytimes.com, exclaim.ca, thecomicscomic.com, vulture.com, en.wikipedia.org, huffpost.com, wbur.org.

Backstory

Taped in March 2015 prior to a May 2016 Netflix release; during the interim period, Gulman was secretly hospitalized for clinical depression.

Details

Released
Taped
2015, Highline Ballroom, New York City
Runtime
54 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Gary Gulman
Topics
Before
Conversations With Inanimate Objects (2005)
After
The Great Depresh (2019)

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