Adam Sandler shows love to the Dan Patrick, Chris Farley, and others in stellar Netflix special “100% Fresh.”

Since teaming up with Netflix a few years ago, Adam Sandler has had one film (out of many) that’s actually good. That film, The Meyerowitz Stories, is more drama than comedy and has helping hands from Noah Baumbach, Ben Stiller, and Dustin Hoffman. The others, all comedies, are unwatchable.

Enter 100% Fresh, Sandler’s comedy special that hit Netflix earlier today.

It’s nothing but Adam Sandler, a piano player named Dan Bulla, and a microphone, yet it’s his best work from a comedic standpoint in a decade. Instead of the cheap stuff we’ve been used to, Sandler takes us on a trip through middle-aged fame in front of gigantic audiences. The jokes are primarily delivered through music, though there is some regular joke-telling involved. Think of Louis CK’s act, only a bit cleaner, a lot more charming, and set to rap/rock tunes.

The special goes back and forth between several live performances — similar to Chris Rock’s Kill The Messenger project in 2008 — and the folks attending eat up every second of it. For the first hour, every joke and song hits its mark, though I could have done without the Rob Schneider bit. Then, Sandler goes from funny uncle to sweet friend without missing a beat. You hear Sandler’s real singing voice for the first time — the one he made famous in The Wedding Singer — as he goes through a five-minute tribute song to Chris Farley. The mood shifts completely but it feels right. Some people, I’m sure, shed tears from their sofas.

When he gets to Farley’s passing, you can feel it in your stomach. Rob Harvilla of The Ringer also wrote about the special and provided some lyrics.

“But a few months later, the party came to an end

We flew out to Madison to bury our friend

Nothing was harder than saying goodbye

Except watching Chris’s father have his turn to cry”

And if they didn’t cry during the Farley tribute, they did immediately after when Sandler gently sang “Grow Old With You” to his wife. Credits roll. Two thumbs up for Adam Sandler.

One of the coolest parts, in my opinion, was the shirt Sandler wore during one of the shows used. At first, I couldn’t read it because he had a jacket on but I eventually figured it out; The Sandman was rocking a shirt featuring the guys from the Dan Patrick Show. While it’s not surprising since they’ve appeared in Sandler films before, it’s a cool footnote some people might not recognize. Check it out below:

You can buy the shirt from Dan Patrick’s website here.

Anyway, check out the 100% Fresh, which thanks to Harvilla, I know comes from Sandler’s beef with his ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s a taut 70 minutes that breezes by and reminds you just how funny Sandler can be when he goes for it.

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