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Ari Shaffir · 2015 · Comedy Central

Paid Regular

A casual hour of acid trips, bad decisions, and TSA complaints.

January 15, 2015 TV Special

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Ari Shaffir operates on his home turf, leaning against the mic stand to deliver dirtbag tales with a casual delivery that obscures the mechanics of his act. The best material here comes directly from lived experience rather than deliberate attempts to offend. A long run about taking acid at a UFC match works because he commits to the specifics of the trip, relying on his strengths as a straightforward narrator instead of fishing for groans.

Filmed in the Original Room of the Comedy Store in Hollywood, this 2015 set served as Shaffir’s Comedy Central debut. It arrived during a major promotional push for the comic, premiering just days before his storytelling showcase This Is Not Happening made the jump from the web to cable television.

He dedicates significant time to the logistical hurdles of securing weed after moving from Los Angeles to New York City, complains about the unoriginality of modern racism, and explains why Yelp reviews are a better guiding force than the poetry of Robert Frost. Critics noted that his comfortable, conversational stage presence carried the hour, even when his calculated shock tactics fell flat.