Kathleen Madigan: Hunting Bigfoot - General Discussion

[Bastet]

I haven't watched it yet, but Kathleen Madigan's latest comedy special is now available on Prime.  I have no doubt it will be as hilarious as her previous specials.  I watched a lot of her "pubcasts" during the pandemic, but I didn't go to see her act in either of her two latest tours (I'm still not gathering indoors with large groups), so I'm really looking forward to this.  (Wanda Sykes is far and away my favorite comedian, so there's a gap between her and my next favorite, but that person is Madigan, and then there's a big gap before a cluster of people I'd have to think hard to rank in order to fill out a proper top ten.)

I only read two reviews, but they were both positive. 

The trailer is really short, but here it is:

 

[Bastet]

I'm not sure this will have the same re-watchability factor for me as some of her others (I have seen Bothering Jesus a ridiculous number of times), but I definitely enjoyed it.  I'm stealing "I will agree to discuss the Second Amendment only if you can name any other amendment".

While I understand the argument that just as there is a minimum age for elected office, there should be a maximum, I don't agree.  But I didn't dislike that segment, as I enjoyed the way she poked fun at several specific behaviors.

I like when she talks about millennials and the next generation ("the children" as she refers to them in her pubcasts; here she just calls them 20-year-olds), because she'll imitate them and of course poke fun at a few things, but she always gives them props for refusing to go along with inappropriate things our generation didn't push back on at that age.  I love the part about them unionizing without ever holding a meeting, and the union should be called "Yeah, no".  Also how they'd react to reading a job description for coal mining.

My favorite parts are always her stories about her parents, and this was no different.  Mine are about the same age, so there are always things I vigorously nod my head to as I'm laughing.  (I love in an earlier special when she said as your parents reach a certain age, you find yourself standing there thinking "Are you going crazy right in front of me?  Should I call someone?")

I also always love the stories she has from her travels, especially places in the South.  "Are y'all walking on purpose?" cracked me up.  And I love how Lewis (Black) was the butt of the joke in the story about the hillbilly bar with a stuffed squirrel as wall art, for asking if they had a wine list.

[Kiss my mutt]

I watched the first twenty minutes and didn’t even crack a smile so I exited out. She was really funny back in her Last Comic Standing days. 

[JTMacc99]

On 3/2/2023 at 9:06 PM, Bastet said:

I also always love the stories she has from her travels, especially places in the South. 

The bit she did about writing a travel guide to the United States is one of my favorite things any comedian has done. 

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

The bit she did about writing a travel guide to the United States is one of my favorite things any comedian has done. 

I love that, too.  Those bits work because a) she really has traveled all over the U.S. - and more often to lesser-known cities than the big ones - over the course of her career, so she's telling stories based on experience rather than just stereotypes picked up from others and b) she's from the Midwest and she splits her home time between outside of Nashville and in the Ozarks.  So she tells tales on her own places all the time, too.

And, like I said, I love that in the story about the bar in the Ozarks, Lew is the butt of the joke, not the guy with the stuffed squirrel for art.

I'm going to have to watch this one again.  I don't know if my expectations were ridiculously high because it's been so long (this was slated to be done in 2019, but got pushed to 2020, and then we all know what happened), but at first watch I didn't love it like I do her others.  I liked it, but would at this point put it last if ranking her specials.

[Bastet]

On 3/7/2023 at 11:40 AM, Bastet said:

I'm going to have to watch this one again.  I don't know if my expectations were ridiculously high because it's been so long (this was slated to be done in 2019, but got pushed to 2020, and then we all know what happened), but at first watch I didn't love it like I do her others.  I liked it, but would at this point put it last if ranking her specials.

Quoting myself to say, yeah, that was on me -- I was just so over-excited to finally be getting another special, I didn't react to it as strongly as I normally do a new special of hers.  I've watched it again twice since I posted that, as I enjoyed it just as much as I do the others.

For the first time in her life, she recently had to cancel shows due to a family emergency.  She posted a brief update a week later but didn't say what's going on, just that she'd still be out of the loop for a while.  She's clearly emotionally wrecked; it is all over her face. 

Her parents are in their 80s and both have had health problems, so I fear it's something with one of them.  Anyone who has a good relationship with their parents will be devastated to lose them, but I've been thinking about how there's this entire other consideration for her -- so much of her comedy is based on telling stories about them.  What an adjustment she will have to at some point make to telling those jokes in the past tense. 

Anyway, hoping for the best in the Madigan family (I listen to a lot of her pubcasts, too, in addition to her shows, so I almost feel like I know them), and enjoying revisiting her latest special.