James Acaster is my favourite comedian of all time. I've seen every TV appearance he's made, all his live clips online, listened to all of his classic scrapes and read his book. I LOVE this man, he has the ability to make me no matter what. So when I heard that 4 hours worth of his material was going to be put on Netflix, I was ecstatic to say the least.
Every part of this four-part comedic masterpiece is hilarious. The show is made up of new and old material. The old stuff still lands as well as it did the first time I heard it and the new stuff was amazing to see.
Each episode has James (colour coordinated with the stage background) seemingly rambling about unconnected topics for 55 minutes at a time, but by the end you realise that you've seen an perfectly plotted show that managed to somehow get a very strange plot across.
Gags like James playing us his comedy podcast, talking about jury duty, massages, pictures-you-put-your-head-in, folding boxes, Google logos, Dr Pepper, conga lines, Mexican restaurant cutlery and how to break the ice sound like they don't connect but by the end of all four you're aware you've seen something special.
The final episode especially manages to tie in in-jokes from all three other episodes as well as some more new material that manages to cap off the whole show and make you feel like you've seen one 4-hour set rather than four unrelated shows.
It's unlikely, but I hope that more of Acaster's work makes it to Netflix as more people need to be exposed to his genius. If you love Acaster like I do, this will be the highlight of your year so far. If you've never heard of him then do yourself a favour and check this out, you'll love it.
