As Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival (JFL) struggled to recover from the pandemic you can’t help but think that Netflix saw an opportunity to launch their own festival, but in Los Angeles, California.
And so, 2022 saw the launch of Netflix is a Joke: The Festival (aka Netflix is a JokeFest), running from April 28th to May 8th.
Note that, with many of the events below, there may not be citation links. Netflix had a dynamic website, which meant I had to grab screenshots of the details – and then the content vanished.
29th April – Outdoors at the Hollywood Palladium
The first event of Jimmy’s (that I could find) was a Drop In that he hosted (some stories said hosted – some said headlined) at the Hollywood Palladium. Featuring:
- Jim Jefferies
- Darius Bennett
- Goddamn Comedy Jam
- Katherine Ryan
- Leslie Jones
30th April – Chappelle & Friends, Hollywood Bowl
Dave Chappelle played the Hollywood Bowl for a 3rd night in a row and the intended running order (according to the Netflix X account) was listed as:
- Jeff Ross
- Mohammed Amer
- Michael Che
- Jimmy Carr
- Jon Stewart
- D’Angelo (music)
- Dave Chappelle
However, someone from the gig posted “Jeff Ross hosted, Jimmy Carr opened and was then followed by Jon Stewart, D’Angelo and Michael Che”. I think all we can assume is that everyone took to the stage! There is a Reddit thread discussing all of Dave’s shows.
1st May (am) Brunch with Ted Sarandos
Ted Sarandos is the co-CEO of Netflix and all of the biggest names attended this brunch. So far as I can see the only Brit comic there was Jimmy Carr (not sure why Lily Collins attended). Some of the attendees, in alpha order:
- Bo Burnham
- Bill Burr
- Jerrod Carmichael
- Jimmy Carr
- Dave Chappelle
- Fortune Feimster
- Tiffany Haddish
- Ken Jeong
- Nick Kroll
- Charlie McDowell
- John Mulaney
- Tig Notaro
- Jeff Ross
- Adam Sandler
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Molly Shannon
- Iliza Shlesinger
- Ali Wong
- Jimmy O. Yang
Getty have some pictures here and this first one is Tig Notaro with Jimmy and Jerrod Carmichael. I wonder if anyone mentioned the “hair ornament”?
1st May (Eve) – Chappelle & Friends, Hollywood Bowl
Complete line up tonight is a bit unclear but Jimmy and Jeff Ross pulled up a dozen people from the crowd and speed roasted them.
Picture 7, in this selection, is from this Roast. Just noticed Jack Whitehall in pic 9 (not seen a reference to him before – possibly only there as a punter?) and Sebastian Maniscalco in pic 10.
2nd May – The Comedy Store, Pot Luck
The Comedy Store were charging $5 for a Pot Luck ticket and, for that princely sum, punters got to see:
- Chris Rock
- Leslie Jones
- Jimmy Carr
- Dave Chappelle.
3rd May – Chappelle & Friends, Hollywood Bowl
This was the gig where someone jumped on stage and tried to assault Chappelle (read more in this post and a review here). The bill that night (hosted by Jeff Ross) was (I think) in this order:
- Jeff Ross
- Michelle Wolf
- Jimmy Carr
- Sebastian Maniscalco
- Jon Stewart
- Chris Rock
- Jabbawockeez
- Costa Contra
- Jeff Ross and Jimmy Carr roasting audience members
- Dave Chappelle
4th May – Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill: The Drop In, Hollywood Palladium
This show was recorded and is on Netflix as Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill. More details here.
One review, on IMDB, said that 2 run throughs were shot in the same night and that the first show “felt like the comics wanted to be there”, was longer and was much better than the 2nd one. The reviewer said that they don’t know why the 2nd show was used – and that the version put out on Netflix was poorly edited.
- Bill Burr
- Michelle Wolf
- Jimmy Carr
- Ronny Chieng
- Josh Adam Meyers
- Ian Edwards
- Dean Delray
- Steph Tolev
- Joe Bartnick
- Dave Attell
- Jeff Ross
- Jessica Kirson
- God Damn Comedy Jam
5th May – Jimmy Carr, Palace Theatre
This was 2 shows of Jimmy’s own tour (7pm and 9.30pm). Not sure whether he used the joke list for Terribly Funny or Terribly Funny 2.0 (or a customised set) as he switched up his routine sometime in 2022 (also because the promotional stuff showed it under the banner of Netflix is a Joke Fest).
6th May
This seemed like another busy day…according to his X account Jimmy had lunch with Dave letterman and Judd Apatow. And then a UK tabloid published a pic of him meeting up later with Robbie Williams @ Craig’s Restaurant.
And, presumably later in the evening, Jimmy’s mate, Neal Brennan, introduced him to Kevin Hart.
8th May – The Comedy Store, Closing Night Party
The Comedy Store hosted the end of festival party and Getty have some images here.
I’m exhausted just typing up that lot…
Jimmy’s next appearance at this festival would be the 2024 one.
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