Skip to content
Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Promotional art for Paid Regular
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Prime Video

Paid Regular

Ari Shaffir

Comedy Central · 2015 · 73 min

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

Watch on Comedy Central(opens in a new tab)

or watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

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.

The set list

6 bits

  1. The insecurity of God in the Ten Commandments

    Shaffir analyzes the Ten Commandments and argues that the first three Commandments make God sound super insecure and paranoid by repeatedly forbidding other gods.

  2. The Morning Blowjob

    Approaches the subject like a seasoned lawyer, championing its importance to men while acknowledging how selfish and terrible it is for the partner.

  3. Taking psychedelics in unconventional settings

    Recounts personal experiences of tripping on acid during a live UFC fight and taking mushrooms while camping.

  4. The unoriginality of racism

    Argues that he does not hate racism itself so much as the sheer hackiness and lack of originality in racial stereotypes.

  5. Challenging authority and dealing with the TSA

    Shares petty ways to challenge authority and vents deep frustration toward the TSA, comparing modern airport security complaints to 20th-century airline food bits.

  6. Zombies and cock and balls

    Gross-out routine joking about male genitalia being a delicacy for zombies, with the victim initially enjoying it.

How it plays

Tone
Calculated shock, irreverent, glib, and observational.
On stage
Conversational, assertive, and confident without being overbearing, adopting a playful and loose club comic demeanor with an edgy, say-anything front.
Pace
Sleek, well-timed, and relaxed; conversational delivery where he does not appear to be performing.
About
Racism and racial stereotypes, Psychedelics and drug experiences, Challenging authority and TSA, Sex and morning blowjobs, Religion and the Ten Commandments

What the critics said

Reviews were divided: Under the Gun Review praised the set as sleek, well-timed, and brilliantly funny in an intimate venue, while Paste Magazine found the shock material safe, calculated, and unoriginal, though praising his storytelling and the Ten Commandments routine.

In the room: An intimate, dark, small club dynamic with a relaxed room feel, at times producing audible negative gasps before reluctant laughs when crossing taboo language boundaries.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: tv.apple.com, imdb.com, paramountpressexpress.com, vulture.com, pastemagazine.com, underthegunreview.net, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

A tribute to Shaffir's origins as a stand-up comic at The Comedy Store, where he previously worked answering phones, managing, and working the door for years before owner Mitzi Shore made him a paid regular after 37 showcases.

Details

Released
Taped
The Comedy Store (Original Room), Hollywood
Runtime
73 min
Where
Comedy Central
Director
Shannon Hartman
Topics
After
Double Negative (2017)

More from Ari Shaffir

If you liked this