The Specialist

John Franklin builds his stand-up around specific, highly embarrassing anecdotes that paint him as a perpetually awkward presence in his own life. The centerpiece of this debut hour explains the origin of his nickname, “the specialist,” a title earned through a series of poorly planned choices, including a disastrous one-night stand interrupted by an Army veteran and a painful mishap in a college classroom. Filmed at the House of Independents in Asbury Park, New Jersey, the show caught the comic at a transition point, arriving just a year after he gained national attention as a contestant on season four of Netflix’s The Circle. Returning to his home state, Franklin uses his time to sketch his Jersey upbringing, his years as a high school theater kid, and the awkwardness of being a straight man who loves stage musicals, concluding the set with a live, acoustic cover of Fountains of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom.”