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Promotional art for Act Happy
Cover image credit: via TMDB

Act Happy

Todd Glass

Netflix · 2018 · 62 min

A chaotic stand-up hour backed by a live house band.

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Todd Glass is a comedian’s comedian, a veteran who is more interested in generating frenetic chaos than delivering a polished set. He performs alongside a seven-piece house band at The Lyric Theatre in Los Angeles, using the musicians as a live comedy foil. The band isn’t just there for walk-on music; they mock him when he takes a drink of water, play rimshots, and provide backing tracks for his frantic rants. It is a loose, meta hour where the structure is intentionally flimsy, and Glass is fully in his element playing the role of an outraged master of ceremonies.\n\nFilmed at a point in his career when he was established as an alternative-comedy staple and host of The Todd Glass Show podcast, the set highlights his knack for finding absurdity in the mundane. He covers his 2010 heart attack, coming out as gay, and his obsession with the reality show House Hunters. He also performs a chunk mimicking Rodney Dangerfield delivering Mitch Hedberg’s surreal one-liners. Reception was split between critics who found the manic energy and repetitive musical gimmicks exhausting, and fans of his podcast who appreciated the unscripted, unpredictable rhythms of his stage craft.

The set list

6 bits

  1. Defending today's youth against generational criticism

    Argues that younger generations consistently land on the right side of history, delivering an impassioned rant and tossing the microphone aside

  2. Rejecting the backlash against political correctness

    Insists that being PC is not censorship or 'bullshit,' but simply common kindness

  3. Surviving a heart attack onstage and coming out as gay

    Relates the medical emergency to his decision to stop living closeted, joking that he prefers the phrase 'busting out of the shed'

  4. Impersonating fellow comedian Brian Regan

    Performs a routine about 'man caves' styled specifically as a piece of material he wants to give to Brian Regan

  5. Staging his refrigerator and covering for misidentifying acquaintances

    Details neurotically over-preparing his fridge for houseguests and demonstrates an elaborate technique to cover social blunders

  6. Reflecting on hiding his sexuality onstage and taking a stand for gay rights

    Drops the jokes in a serious final segment, recounting how he referred to his boyfriend as a girlfriend onstage for decades before coming out

How it plays

Tone
Irreverent, chaotic, joyful, silly, and intimately vulnerable
On stage
High-octane, unpredictable, sarcastic, and self-aware showman who oscillates between chaotic ham and earnest preacher
Pace
Rapid-fire, manic, highly energetic stream-of-consciousness delivery executed alongside live musical cues
About
surviving a heart attack, coming out as gay and gay rights, defending younger generations and millennials, critique of anti-PC rhetoric in comedy, absurdities of daily life

What the critics said

Widely praised by critics as an innovative, subversive hour of controlled chaos and joyful anarchy anchored by high-energy showmanship and a backing band

In the room: Intimate, high-energy small-room atmosphere in a 75-seat theater dynamic

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: media.netflix.com, imdb.com, rottentomatoes.com, decider.com, thecomedybureau.com, mainecampus.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Filmed following his public coming out as gay and surviving an onstage cardiac arrest / heart attack after a performance with Sarah Silverman

Details

Released
Taped
The Lyric Theatre, Los Angeles
Runtime
62 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Scott Moran
Honors
100% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes
Topics
Before
Comedy Central Presents (2001)

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