Five Standup Comedy Specials You Should Watch Right Now

The dog days of summer have brought record highs from the swamps of Florida to the peaks of Denver. So why not combat the swelter of reality with some air-conditioned couch time and laughter?

Veteran podcaster and actor Marc Maron returns to HBO with Panicked, hewing closer to the rhythms of straight-up standup than he has in a while but still exploring the depths of his amygdala. Hulu continues its monthly Hularious roll-outs with a special from Atsuko Okatsuka directed by her husband, Ryan Harper Gray, who makes a cameo at the end (and also features in a bit about his vasectomy). On his second Netflix special, Wet Heat, Dusty Slay defends the Southern humidity he grew up in from desert dwellers who tend to crow about the superiority of dry air: “I like to sweat in places I didn’t even know I could sweat in. I like to go, ‘Why is that wet?’”

Fellow Southerner Katherine Blanford — who’s opened for Jeff Foxworthy and David Spade — begins her debut special, Catholic Cowgirl, by noting that most audiences who see her perform for the first time remark on two things: she’s a woman (true) and she’s not very dirty (open for debate): “Even my dirty talk with my boyfriend, I’m like, ‘Hey, you better . . . hurry up.”

And James Acaster tries to change the shape of both his comedy and himself by setting rules for audience engagement in Hecklers Welcome. One of the best bits comes after a heckler interrupts to deliver a joke Acaster kicks himself for not having thought of — after which the comedian tries to get back on course only to find himself stuck in an audience feedback time loop.