Son of a Gary

Dan Soder spent years as a gravel-voiced club comic and character actor before this hour, which uses his late, alcoholic father as an emotional anchor rather than a pity party. He treats his dad’s self-destruction as a source of dark comedy, skipping the usual theater-show solemnity in favor of fast-paced club jokes.\n\nTaped at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, the 2019 HBO special came at a high-water mark for Soder’s career. At the time, he was co-hosting The Bonfire on SiriusXM and expanding beyond sidekick roles like Mafee on Billions.\n\nHe weaves together stories about trying to stay calm around airport drug dogs while high on psychedelic mushrooms, the absurdities of the “customer service generation,” and the universal experience of staging fake, victorious arguments in the shower.\n\nThe special benefits from a high-profile crew behind the scenes, with Chris Storer directing and Jerrod Carmichael and Bo Burnham executive producing. This keeps the presentation tight, emphasizing Soder’s physical performance and spot-on vocal shifts.