First of all, if you haven’t seen Girls Trip, you need to stop what you are doing and get down to the movie theater to see, and shame on you. Okay, moving on. For those that didn’t see, prepare for a slight spoiler – Tiffany Haddish stole every scene she was in. For the people who were asking why would they place a comedian who didn’t have a lot of movie experience, with these big names, just know that the casting director must have done their homework. While Tiffany lacks film experience, she has been around in the comedy world for quite a long time; however, her successes had not landed her a big cable network special yet.
Well, guess what? Girls Trip has turned out to be her coming out party. Showtime decided to give the veteran comedian her own special which aired for the first time on Friday, August 18th, on Showtime. So, how did Tiffany do on her first special? I actually feel kind of silly even having to answer this question, but since this is what I get paid to do, here goes.
As she always does, Tiffany came out and connected with the crowd. She has this unique way of getting every freaking demographic in the audience to connect with her. During this special, she was working with a highly diverse crowd, which is more challenging than it may sound. As a comedian, you do what is called working the room. You have to survey who is in the room and find a way to connect with them, and those who are like them, or you will lose that part of the crowd and when people start to go dead, it can become contagious. Laughter has energy in it, and people literally feed off of that energy.
Tiffany is able to walk on the stage and notice how many different races are in the audience, the number of age groups, thin women, heavy women, etc. And, within the first five to eight minutes of the show, she has already connected with all of the diverse groups and made them think that she is there to speak specifically to them. Her first special was no different. She is one of those people that doesn’t take long to get you into the mode of laughter, and once she gets you there, her story telling is animated that even when she is building on a punchline, the context and framing is funny.
All of the challenges that come along with a cable network special was met and conquered by Tiffany. The size of the crowd did not prove to be a problem at all. The diversity of the crowd actually proved to be a plus because her material is culturally diverse. There all types of comedians – White Comedians, Black comedians, male comedians, female comedians, etc. Then there are those who are simply comedians, and Tiffany Haddish falls under this category.
She has a way to take current and common events and find the humor in it. If this first special is any indication, and I personally believe that it is, of what Tiffany Haddish has to offer the world of comedy on a grand scale, the next 20 years are going to be quite a ride.
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