The Standups

Brent Morin’s half-hour set relies on the kind of hyperactive energy that makes him seem like he’s constantly defending himself in a court of law. He plays the frantic beta male, a comic who gets wound up quickly and stays there, spinning long, theatrical yarns about his own poor decision-making. His centerpiece bit is an eight-minute reenactment of being drunk in the back of an UberX, where he adopts a bizarre regal persona to trick himself into believing he is being chauffeured by a private butler.

Recorded at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles for the second season of Netflix’s showcase series, the 2018 set arrived after Morin’s stint on the NBC sitcom Undateable and his 2015 solo special. It finds him lean and expressive on stage, relying heavily on physical commitment to carry his longer narratives. Aside from the rideshare bit, the performance centers on a chaotic anecdote about getting into a fight with his ex-girlfriend in New York City, being abandoned on the street, and spending the night wandering Manhattan with a street performer named Rico, only to return to the hotel and immediately lie about it.

The set divided critics, some of whom found his high-speed delivery and self-deprecating but ultimately self-absorbed stories to be exhausting over thirty minutes. Yet, for audiences who enjoy theatrical storytelling that relies on frantic tangents and sudden bursts of volume, Morin’s set showcases a performer willing to look foolish if it means keeping the energy up.