Celeste Barber: Fine, thanks

I wasn't familiar with Celeste Barber prior to stumbling upon her "Celeste Barber: Fine, Thanks" comedy special on Netflix. And thus, I opted to give her a chance and check out her comedy act. The show runs for 59 minutes, and I have to say that I was adequately entertained throughout the course of her show. There were a few slumps along the way, but in overall then I was properly entertained. Celeste Barber has a good energy level on the stage, and she uses her body a lot for delivering her jokes and punchlines, and that works quite well. There is nothing worse than watching a stand-up comedian stand stiff in front of the microphone and deliver his or her material. Luckily Celeste Barber was not one such comedian. The contents of her show was fair enough. The only downer here, was that there was a lot of focus on jokes and contents below the belt. Not that I am a prude or really mind that, but it has been done for far too long, by far too many comedians, and it wears thin rather quickly. It was good that she brought in so much from her personal life and experiences and turned it into jokes, so it wasn't just pulling jokes on the behalf of other celebrities and such. It is material that you can sort of relate to. I will say, however, that "Celeste Barber: Fine, Thanks" is worth checking out if you enjoy a laugh or two. My rating of "Celeste Barber: Fine, Thanks" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Ugh. Celeste. I love you. But this was not it. It was such dry material. It felt like maybe she didn't actually write these jokes and someone else wrote them for her? I have to believe she is funnier than this. I stopped after the first 10 min where she talks about being quarantined with her husband & kids and how annoying it was. I didn't find that funny or interesting at all. The quarantining jokes are so played out - we get it, you were stuck with people. As was the rest of the world... And it stuck out to me as strange because on instagram she always says how much she loves "hot husband"; that to say how annoying he was to her doesn't seem to fit the same narrative.

So I watched trailer knowing nothing about this comedian, thought it was funny and decided to give it a go. I'll never know if the trailer included the only funny bit or not because my spouse and I turned it off relatively quickly. The jokes we did see were so tired and played out. It was like watching a hokey special from the 90s. The whole bit about marital discord was tolerable, though not really funny in my opinion (talking about hating your partner has been done to death and there was nothing original in her bit). Then she got into the wine-mom thing. Ah yes, being daydrunk and making your kids feel uncomfortable is soooo hilarious . Maybe its relatable for the wine-moms out there (aka alcoholics who need therapy rather than a bottle) but we found it cringey and outdated, and im really not sure what the punch line was supposed to be? Even if all of it was made up for the show, it was just weird and boring.

I'm a fan of her Instagram challenges but this was dismal. I've been to watch several comedians at comedy clubs and most solicited, at the very least, a few laughs but, wow, the part I watched didn't even garner one chuckle. It was cringeworthy and not even remotely funny. She recently released Wellmania (also on Netflix) and that was very watchable in comparison. Although it did have its 'ick' moments, the supporting cast was fun, Celeste Barber's character was entertaining and the storyline decent. Stick with those Insta challenges and, perhaps, the scripted Netflix show, Celeste. This standup routine was a massive fail.

Ugh. Celeste. I love you. But this was not it. It was such dry material. It felt like maybe she didn't actually write these jokes and someone else wrote them for her? I have to believe she is funnier than this. I stopped after the first 10 min where she talks about being quarantined with her husband & kids and how annoying it was. I didn't find that funny or interesting at all. The quarantining jokes are so played out - we get it, you were stuck with people. As was the rest of the world... And it stuck out to me as strange because on instagram she always says how much she loves "hot husband"; that to say how annoying he was to her doesn't seem to fit the same narrative.

So I watched trailer knowing nothing about this comedian, thought it was funny and decided to give it a go. I'll never know if the trailer included the only funny bit or not because my spouse and I turned it off relatively quickly. The jokes we did see were so tired and played out. It was like watching a hokey special from the 90s. The whole bit about marital discord was tolerable, though not really funny in my opinion (talking about hating your partner has been done to death and there was nothing original in her bit). Then she got into the wine-mom thing. Ah yes, being daydrunk and making your kids feel uncomfortable is soooo hilarious . Maybe its relatable for the wine-moms out there (aka alcoholics who need therapy rather than a bottle) but we found it cringey and outdated, and im really not sure what the punch line was supposed to be? Even if all of it was made up for the show, it was just weird and boring.

I'm a fan of her Instagram challenges but this was dismal. I've been to watch several comedians at comedy clubs and most solicited, at the very least, a few laughs but, wow, the part I watched didn't even garner one chuckle. It was cringeworthy and not even remotely funny. She recently released Wellmania (also on Netflix) and that was very watchable in comparison. Although it did have its 'ick' moments, the supporting cast was fun, Celeste Barber's character was entertaining and the storyline decent. Stick with those Insta challenges and, perhaps, the scripted Netflix show, Celeste. This standup routine was a massive fail.