1. Homecoming King

Hasan Minhaj uses his Netflix stand-up special, Homecoming King, to weave an intricate and hilarious account of his life as a son of Indian-American immigrants. That means there are plenty of funny cultural learning curves.

Minhaj describes how his dad took him to Home Depot instead of Toys-R-Us for his birthday and how he struggled to fit in with a "bunch of Ryan Lochte's" in high school, but what really makes this special stand out is how Minhaj manages to be bluntly honest about the difficulties of being brown in America which is hella relatable btw.

2. Nanette

You'd have to be living under a rock not to have heard about Australian comic Hannah Gadsby and her must-watch stand-up special. Her hour-long set is changing the way we think about comedy, chucking the ironic detachment in the trash and instead, offering up a bit of humor interlaced with moving reflections on life. Most of Gadsby's routine chronicles the joys and hardships of being a queer woman — her childhood in Tasmania, her praise for Monica Lewinsky, her commentary on why sexuality and comedy go hand-in-hand — but she also claps back against the idols of her early life, men like Louis C.K. who've now become the problem. In other words, Gadsby's not holding any punches with this one.

3. Abroad Understanding

He shot the hour in two locales: A stadium of 11,000 adoring fans in a stadium in New Delhi and the basement venue of SubCulture in New York City for about 200 expats and strangers. While he tells the Delhi crowd that he wants "to show them that Indian comedy is more than just head-bobble jokes and funny accents," he does have a few accents up his sleeves, including Australian and Bond villain, and roots out the expats in his New York City audience with a bit of Hindi, too. But he also warns the New Yorkers: "I'm not impersonating a hilarious relative." His Indian accent only serves to provide "perspective, not a punch line."

And for everyone, Das suggests that our religious tolerance might improve if only the basic texts received updates as often as Apple apps alert us to upgrades.

What a man.

4. Kid Gorgeous At Radio City

Apart from being one of the most consistently entertaining comics working, there's a whiff of old showbiz to his onstage persona that feels right at home at such an old-school venue. Not that Mulaney's work is corny, but his delivery smacks of vaudeville projection, his lanky physicality born of the road show performer's need to capture a crowd's attention at all times. There's a self-effacing streak in his jokes that never comes off as merely performative but as part of a veteran comedian's carefully stocked toolkit.

In this special, Mulaney eviscerates pretty much everything (school assemblies, aging, manners, church) with his patented good-humored charm. He even manages to wade into the tricky political arena with horse comparisons and the refusal to name a certain orange-haired president. In other words, Mulaney's at his best here, and the Emmys thought so too.

5. Make Happy

In Make Happy, Burnham takes an unflinching look at the entertainment industry, doling out jabs to rap artists, country bros, Lip Sync Battle, and even his own work. His rapid-fire one-liners and ability to cut to the bone on more serious issues only beefs up this special, which manages to take on a darker tone while still making us laugh.

The central thesis of Make Happy is that all entertainment—good or bad—is ultimately fleeting, and exists to momentarily provide us with a bit of joy and relief from our stressful lives before we resume the struggle. Even if Burnham's act is more worthy than Lip Sync Battle, he still has the same goal: to distract us from the harsh realities of the modern world, be they famine, death, or the continued prosperity of Guy Fieri.