Summary
Inoffensive and harmless stand-up focusing on dated observations.
This review of the Netflix comedy special Jeff Foxworthy: The Good Old Days does not contain spoilers.
Comedy has changed quite a bit over the last few years, with the rise in social media-based comedians and a raging debate over cancel culture. Old TV shows and comics alike have been wiped clean from history. Some of these decisions are valid, whilst others seem a little unfair. The way comedians deal with this ever-changing landscape addresses the seriousness of the argument. Yet some carry on regardless, with differing results. Ricky Gervais manages to channel his observations into his After Life characters without much offense, whereas Jimmy Carr came under fire for an inappropriate Holocaust joke. The discussion wages on, but you won’t find any controversy or risqué material in this latest Netflix comedy special.
Jeff Foxworthy plays it safe, painfully safe in fact. This is a harmless jaunt through the stand-up comedian’s many recorded observations from lockdown. Most of these feel obvious or old hat, but there are the odd few, intriguing remarks. The hour-long show starts with humorless monologues on COVID, face masks, and his wife talking too much, before straying into the more obscene.
There are plenty of rude jokes, yet these are phrased in Jeff Foxworthy’s typically inoffensive way. He talks about Viagra, porn, and holiday sex with the missus, to varying degrees of success. These observations do feel dated no matter how you look at it, but this is coming from a comic who was releasing comedy albums back in the early nineties after all. His notions on the mobile phone or GPS are nothing new and his rants about ‘change’ only add to this argument. He repeats the title of the stand-up special again and again like it is some big revelation.
This all may sound a little harsh, but there is some humor buried deep within this unending sixty-minute show. I enjoyed the sketches about his mother wanting to buy a gun and the Redneck poetry, whilst his statements that “pictures aren’t precious” anymore or that we know too much these days are actually quite poignant.
An average comedy special that offers nothing new, with very few laugh-out-loud moments. This may appeal to viewers looking for a relaxing hour of TV or an inoffensive comedy special, although it is not a family-friendly offering.
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