One Shot
Netflix · 2016 · 57 min
An unedited, single-take comedy set from a roast writer's early career.
Recording a stand-up special in a single, unedited tracking shot sounds like a high-concept tightrope walk, but it mostly functions as a distraction. Tony Hinchcliffe walks onto the stage of the Ice House in Pasadena with a camera following closely behind, attempting to turn a routine club set into a gimmick of cinematic endurance. Without cuts, every transition feels a little more naked, and every quiet moment in the room lingers just a second longer.
Released in 2016, the special caught Hinchcliffe at a transitional point in his career. He was establishing himself as a writer for the Comedy Central Roasts and building the early foundation of his weekly live podcast. The material here leans heavily into his trademark mean-spirited persona, featuring routines about defending Bill Cosby, typing with one eye closed, and the politics of handicap bathroom stalls. His writing relies on quick, dark wordplay, though many of the setups lean on cheap shock value.
The continuous-shot experiment did not help the material connect. Netflix declined to renew the licensing deal after two years, and the audio version was eventually pulled from Spotify. The hour has since become a hard-to-find curiosity, occasionally resurfacing in online forums as a time capsule of Hinchcliffe’s early career before his podcast reached massive popularity.
The set list
-
Encounter with an eye-patched store clerk
Recounts trading insults with a retail clerk that culminated in the clerk hitting him with a delayed roast joke, turning Tony into the butt of the joke.
-
Living in a predominantly gay neighborhood
Uses his own aesthetic and nerdy appearance to deconstruct society's preconceived notions and stereotypes about gay men.
-
Handicapped stalls in public restrooms
Praises the vast space of accessible stalls before transitioning into advice on pulling off a convincing cerebral palsy walk.
-
Separating art from the artist concerning Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson, and Gary Glitter
Tackles the moral conflict between personal conscience and appreciation of great art by controversial cultural figures, navigating room tension.
-
Absurdities of modern life, dick pics, rapper 2 Chainz, and sleeping caps
Deconstructs popular culture tropes and eccentric garments through an absurd, blue lens.
How it plays
- Tone
- Witty, irreverent, biting, dark, and absurd.
- On stage
- Nerdy, sharp-tongued, and sarcastic persona that mixes self-deprecation with biting, acid-tongued roasts.
- Pace
- Fast, raw club pacing with short laugh breaks, delivering high joke density and deft transitions while gradually building material from silly to edgy.
- About
- gay stereotypes and self-perception, celebrity scandals and separating art from artist, verbal sparring and roasting, everyday absurdities, handicap access
What the critics said
Praised as a masterful debut special that proved Hinchcliffe's prowess at writing sharp, cutting jokes while staying likable and innovative in format.
In the room: Tense, authentic, and tight comedy club crowd that responded to high-risk material without cutaways or laugh tracks.
Backstory
Self-financed and filmed as an independent project before pitching it to Netflix; inspired by continuous-shot filmmaking in Birdman and movies by Scorsese and Tarantino. Raised in a high-crime neighborhood in Youngstown, Ohio, where he developed sharp insults as a verbal defense mechanism.
Details
- Released
- Taped
- The Ice House, Pasadena
- Runtime
- 57 min
- Where
- Netflix
- Director
- Ben Wolfinsohn
- Topics
- After
- KILL TONY: WrestleMania (2026)
More from Tony Hinchcliffe
-
Man of the People
Netflix
-
KILL TONY: WrestleMania
Netflix
If you liked this
-
Jimmy Carr His Dark Material
Netflix
-
Katherine Ryan In Trouble
Netflix
-
Ricky Gervais Armageddon
Netflix
