Ah, summer. A season when the pleasures of the great outdoors are outmatched only by the comforts of the great indoors — a hospitable clime where you can escape the heat in favor of spending quality time with your television and air conditioner.

Luckily, Netflix is positively bursting with new comedy specials to keep our brains cool and energized. In recent months, comedians spanning the spectrum of human experience have popped up on the service with sets addressing, or pointedly providing respite from, the horrors and wonders of our current historical moment. The sheer volume of Netflix specials may be overwhelming, but fear not — we have rounded up the very best recent additions for you below, in the recommended order of viewing.

Steve Martin, left, and Martin Short in “Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life.” Netflix

‘Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life’

Comedy icons and best buddies Steve Martin and Martin Short warmly reunite onscreen for a breezy, borderline vaudevillian romp through the topics du jour and memories of days gone by. It’s like a dream in which your dad didn’t actually leave, and has at long last returned with the cigarettes he dashed out for all those years ago. While Martin is more mild than wild these days, what makes this essential viewing is Short, who in his late 60s is as limber and transcendently goofy as you remember him. It’s worth sitting through 10 full minutes of Martin’s playing the banjo in order to arrive at the origin story of Short’s skeezy corporate lawyer character, Nathan Thurm. But if you choose to fast-forward through, say, minutes 43-53, we’ll never tell. While the title is largely prophetic, this is a charming, nostalgic aperitif — the Aperol Spritz of the summer’s specials.

Stream it on Netflix.

Michelle Buteau in “The Comedy Lineup.” Jackson Davis/Netflix

‘The Comedy Lineup’

A smorgasbord of punchy 15-minute sets from eight up-and-coming comedians, “The Comedy Lineup” offers the experience of an especially fortuitous night at a comedy club, blissfully without the two-drink minimum and hecklers. Highlights include a take from the “Late Night Whenever” host, Michelle Buteau, on when it is appropriate for a man to take out his genitals; a take from the Comedy Central mainstay Jak Knight on when it is appropriate for a man to take out his genitals; and a take from the “Saturday Night Live” writer Sam Jay on when it is appropriate for a lesbian to take out a replica of a man’s genitals.

Stream it on Netflix.

Chris Rock in his comedy special “Tamborine.” Netflix

‘Chris Rock: Tamborine’

It seems inconceivable that Chris Rock, the Crown Heights wunderkind, is now an elder statesman in his field, but it is true. In his latest special, Rock paces the stage and punctuates perfectly crafted jokes about American racism, gun control and police brutality with his trademark preacher-like refrains. Like many male comedians of his stature, Rock wrestles a bit clumsily with the issues of harassment and bullying, but he redeems himself with a searing mea culpa on the topic of his serial infidelity and resulting divorce. The special’s title is deliberately misspelled (in a nod to Prince), and refers to his philosophy on how to make a long-term marriage work: “Sometimes you play lead, sometimes you play tambourine.” In this band of specials, Rock is playing tambourine, but he stays in time.

Stream it on Netflix.

Aparna Nancherla in “The Standups.” Saeed Adyani/Netflix

‘The Standups’: Aparna Nancherla

If the “beat” of standup comedy has historically been kept by straight men with a tendency to focus on the gentle absurdity of the obvious while punching down ever so slightly, “offbeat” is the perfect description for the rising star Aparna Nancherla. “The Standups” is a series of six 30-minute specials from up-and-comers, including Joe List and the delightful Gina Yashere (“The Daily Show”), but it is Nancherla’s that is the must-see. With deadpan delivery that manages also to be earnest (and includes a delightfully nerdy Power Point presentation), she’s focused on the aggressive absurdity of the less obvious, including her troubles with women’s magazine advice, parental texting and enigmatic emoji. Her set is like a watermelon gazpacho drizzled with chili oil: unexpected and palate-cleansing and bracing.

Stream it on Netflix.

Tig Notaro in her comedy special “Tig Notaro: Happy to Be Here.” Netflix

‘Tig Notaro: Happy to Be Here’

In recent years, Tig Notaro has survived cancer, the cancellation of her show and collaboration with Louis C.K. Her latest special is mostly about babies and kittens. With the mellowest, creamiest delivery in the business, she also muses on her wife’s quirks, pranking people at parties and “long words, like ‘vanagon.’” Her happiness to be here radiates. The hour is capped with an extendedly-teased appearance by the Indigo Girls. A cancer-surviving lesbian mother of twins just wants to talk about her cat and its “night-night ribbons.” She deserves this, and so do we.

Stream it on Netflix.

Sarah Silverman in her comedy special “Sarah Silverman: A Speck of Dust.” Michael Rowe/Netflix

‘Sarah Silverman: A Speck of Dust’

Sarah Silverman is also a recent health-scare survivor — a persistent sore throat turned out to be rooted in an abscess that required emergency surgery — but there are no babies or kittens here. Silverman is in full fight mode, machete-ing her way through a jungle of rape and murder threats, anti-abortion campaigners and the Westboro Baptist Church. She has found a fine groove onstage, and where once her material and delivery seemed a bit belabored, she now seems to have decided to simply speak truth to power, in a jumpsuit. Toward the end of the hour, she claims to “feel a little like Peter Sellers in ‘Being There,’ like people put more depth on me than I actually have.” Well, I’m happy to be Shirley MacLaine here, bringing Silverman home and encouraging you to listen to her.

Stream it on Netflix.

Ali Wong in her stand-up special “Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife.” Ken Woroner/Netflix

‘Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife’

Two years after her catalytic debut special, “Baby Cobra,” Ali Wong is back, and seemingly even more pregnant. Lest you think that she is in the third year of an extended single pregnancy, Wong goes into gorgeous, agonizing, game-changing detail about the birth of her first child and the physical, emotional and professional aftermath. Even, and perhaps especially, if you have zero interest in the topics of childbirth or child rearing, Wong’s verbal episiotomy on the modern, sex-loving woman’s expected and actual roles is a revelation worth watching. Moms in particular should astral-project with glee and possibly blow a C-section stitch with laughter.

Stream it on Netflix.

Hannah Gadsby in her stand-up special “Hannah Gadsby: Nanette.” Netflix

‘Hannah Gadsby: Nanette’

Those who have seen “Nanette” are undoubtedly wondering how it could possibly rank last on any list. But this list is organized in order of recommended viewing, and “Nanette” is last because once you’ve seen it, you will never see comedy the same way again. The Tasmanian angel Hannah Gadsby expertly excavates the violence and misogyny buried within modern culture, in aspects ranging from homophobia to sexual assault to art history to comedy itself, and fearlessly examines her unconscious participation in her own oppression. She claims to be “quitting comedy” — that the self-deprecation it demands of its marginalized participants is, in itself, a form of self-assault.

This may sound more like a Catharine MacKinnon TED Talk than a comedy special, but Gadsby expertly infotains as she leads us into the heart of personal and societal darkness. A peerless work of feminist comedic Cubism, “Nanette” is a modern masterpiece.

Stream it on Netflix.

Read more: The 100 Best Movies on Netflix Right Now