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Promotional art for Now More Than Ever
Cover image credit: Promotional image via HBO

Now More Than Ever

John Early

HBO · 2023 · 64 min

Stand-up comedy mixed with a fictional rock documentary and live music.

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

The core of John Early’s stage presence is the desperation of a person trying to project confidence they do not possess. His first HBO solo hour formalizes this anxiety into a concept he calls “vamping”. Backed by a live band, the Lemon Squares, he demonstrates the precise art of filling space with empty, stylized movement and confident-sounding noise to distract from the fact that he and his entire generation have no practical life skills. The hour functions as part stand-up set, part 1970s variety show, and part faux-rockumentary.\n\nFilmed at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, the show arrived shortly after the conclusion of his run on the satire Search Party and a collaborative Peacock special with long-time creative partner Kate Berlant. For years, Early has played characters defined by their desperate need for attention. Here, he turns that lens on himself, matching high-energy physical comedy with an unexpected earnestness.\n\nThe stage comedy itself targets the hollow nature of modern self-actualization. He compares Donald Trump’s “Access Hollywood” tape to his own desperate attempts at locker room talk as a closeted gay teenager, and rails against the conformity of the modern “be yourself” mantra. His physical bits are equally sharp, whether he is gyrating across the stage or throwing a choreographed tantrum.\n\nBetween stand-up blocks, the special cuts to gritty, black-and-white backstage sketches directed by Emily Allan and Leah Hennessey. These mockumentary segments feature a fictionalized version of Early fighting with his bandmates and fainting from exhaustion.\n\nThe musical segments are surprisingly straight-faced. Early belts out covers of Britney Spears, Donna Summer, and Neil Young. The highlight is a 16-minute closing sequence where a melancholy piano accompaniment underscores a rant about millennial obsolescence before transitioning into Neil Young’s “After the Gold Rush”.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Donald Trump's Access Hollywood tape

    Reframing the tape as mimicry of his own early closeted sexuality trying to prove to locker-room classmates that he understood sex

  2. iPhone privacy settings prompt: 'Ask App Not to Track'

    Obsessing and reacting exasperatedly over the language of phone location services, devolving into an absurd repetition of sounds

  3. Spotlighting his parents in the balcony and talking about loving anal sex

    Heightening tension with his parents watching while using science and evolution to justify the act

  4. Millennials pretending to hate the word 'moist' and the advice to 'be yourself'

    Ripping into the shallowness, performative platitudes, and cultural decay of his generation over a loose piano accompaniment

  5. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Closing Donna Summer disco cover closer

    Performing an energetic cover utilizing his falsetto alongside his backup singers and band

How it plays

Tone
Playful pastiche, tongue-in-cheek irony, sharp, campy, and unabashedly queer
On stage
Pop star diva swagger, vain, silly, surreal, restlessly physical, confrontational, and delightfully clownish with mock-serious affectations
Pace
Spontaneous, high energy, moving between standup, physical mannerisms, dance moves, and explosive musical numbers
About
millennial ennui and shallow culture, online behavior and social mores, performative smarm and representation, queer identity and sex, technology and app tracking

What the critics said

Received positive reviews highlighting Early's multifaceted abilities as a singer and physical comedian, praising the razor-sharp skewering of millennial jadedness

In the room: Enthusiastic and engaged, transitioning from roaring laughter to quiet reverence during earnest musical covers

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: tribecafilm.com, imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, hbomax.com, vulture.com, nytimes.com, variety.com, decider.com.

Backstory

Conceived in the style of a gritty 1970s rock documentary mixed with backstage sketches inspired by This Is Spinal Tap, performed with his backing band The Lemon Squares during Pride Month

Details

Released
Taped
Roulette Intermedium, Brooklyn
Runtime
64 min
Where
HBO
Director
Emily Allan and Leah Hennessey
Honors
Nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards
Topics

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