What are the best stand-up comedy specials? This is a question that has never failed to elicit debate among long-time comedy audiences. Notably, contemporary stand-up comedy itself is a comparably young art form, with its roots spreading only about a century ago in vaudeville shows, and then in music halls in the middle part of the 20th century. Eventually, this gave rise to what many consider to be comedy's Golden Age, the '70s - dominated by the likes of Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Andy Kaufman, Richard Lewis, and Lenny Bruce.
Although many of the best stand-up comedy specials premiered decades ago, some of these names remain insanely popular today - despite the 21st century introducing dozens of new contenders for stand-up comedy's greatest-of-all-time.
Indeed, even Netflix and , which constantly grow to accommodate more and more comics, can scarcely compete with the sheer demand for good comedy. For the foreseeable future, a few stand out as the best stand-up comedy specials of all time.
