What do lemon bars, the Tár discourse, and Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” have in common? They are all skewered or celebrated in John Early: Now More Than Ever, Early’s exhilaratingly buoyant and unpredictable special. Trust me, this is a party you want to go to. I have never wanted to be in the room with a performer as badly as I did with this hour.
It’s difficult to describe what Early’s special is, and I mean that as the highest praise. It’s a cinéma vérité-style documentary with humorous skits of the drama between the bandmates. It’s a winking celebration of music as Early gyrates and swirls around in the opening number (I won’t say more than that, but it’s a freaking delight). Early has always had a pointed perspective. Sometimes you think you are in on the joke with him, and, other times, you begin to worry that you are the butt of it. That uneasiness is so palpable when you watch his special at home, so I can’t imagine how joyous it would’ve felt in the room. His character is unpredictable–he feels almost like an Andy Kaufman character with an active Grindr account.
Towards the end of the special, the band lightly plays as he expels different opinions about different topics, the words toppling over one another as if this character is afraid to leave the stage with something left unsaid. Not a lot of performers can do that, and Early is so compelling.
There are endless amounts of comedy specials out there. We can herald them all for different reasons, but John Early: Now More Than Ever is more absurd and more gay than you could possibly imagine. Thank God.
John Early: Now More Than Ever is streaming now on Max.
