Chad White

Long before he took the gig of being voice of Comedy Central in 2011, Kinane was on the stand up scene releasing his two previous albums Death of the Party and Whiskey Icarus. Those efforts marked Kinane’s status in the comedy world which then turned into revered stand up fame. He’s appeared on countless podcasts, Last Call and even Conan. Kinane is easy to pick out in a crowd with his patented gruff voice and scraggly beard. He performs well on any stage often by making the audience his close friends.

I Liked His Old Stuff Better is a great, intimate look into Kinane’s life. The stage is small; the laughs are plentiful; Kinane himself is fun to watch. The title alone should set him up for failure. Not really being able to tell what he’s truly thinking, the only real explanation for the title of the special is that Kinane wants to introspectively look back at his career. It’s a reference to when older comedians losing their funny as they age. Kinane’s set is quite the contrary as he is able to surpass that of Whiskey Icarus.

The comedian’s range of topics will suit anyone as he goes from talking about the keys to happiness to cops that like to party. There’s a twinge of truth that creeps in while Kinane sets the scene for each of his jokes. Even with the obvious TV edits – jumping from joke to joke at the beginning/end of a commercial break – Kinane’s ability to draw in the audience is fantastic. He tells detailed stories of his life like when he did an interview for Hustler magazine and his parents went around town trying to find a copy. Some of these tales often end in hilarious disaster a la when he accidentally hooked up with a mentally challenged woman. But he shows that, over the years he’s grown up and describes the “adult things” he enjoys (eating pistachio nuts, buying phone insurance and looking at pet adoption instead of porn).

Should you watch I Liked His Old Stuff Better?

So far, one of the best stand up specials of the year is not on Netflix. Comedy is taken back to its roots at Comedy Central with Kinane’s homey and funny set. He does not stoop to pointless sex jokes or outlandish stories. Nor does he really have the need to. Kinane’s life is wacky enough for him to draw appropriately from it. So the answer to the above question is yes.