'It's a huge testament to how inventive artists can be when studios and producers aren’t involved'

Shenoah Allen picks his comedy favourites

Shenoah Allen brings his stand-up storytelling show show Bloodlust Summertime to the Soho Theatre next week, featuring acid-fuelled tales of drugs, gun violence and unconventional family in his hometown of Albuquerque. Here he shares his Perfect Playlist of his comedy favourites.

The White Louts series 3

I just binged the entire third season of The White Lotus on a long-haul flight, and it handily saved me from deep vein thrombosis by keeping my pulse high all the way home from Tokyo.

Aimee Lou Wood has an uncanny ability to animate her face with more quivering emotion than any Pixar creation and couldn’t be more endearing. I also find her co-star Walton Goggins endlessly watchable, with just the right amount of checkered-past energy that never comes off as a facade.

There’s a scene between him and Sam Rockwell that is perfectly understated. Goggins’ low-key, accepting reactions to Rockwell’s incredible monologue (well done, Mike White) are grounded and hilarious. Parker Posey is also a standout, and Patravadi Mejudhon is the real deal.

The writing and structure of the third season as a whole are masterful. Everything ties up in a way that feels satisfying and inevitable rather than contrived. Nothing is perfect, but this outshines so much television that it’s a clear win for me.

I, like everyone else, adored Jennifer Coolidge in the earlier seasons and include here a couple of her acceptance speeches from the many awards she won. They may restore at least a little of your faith in humanity.

SAG Awards acceptance speech

Emmy Awards:

The Maria Bamford Show

Maria Bamford’s first YouTube series is staggeringly original, funny, and full of depth and warmth. It’s a huge testament to how inventive artists can be when studios and producers aren’t involved, telling them what’s marketable. I adore this little series for its simplicity, deft execution, and how defiantly true to itself it is. It was many a corn season ahead of its time. Thank you, Maria!

Eddie Murphy: Delirious

Eddie Murphy has influenced me more than any other comedian, specifically Delirious, which I had on cassette as an 11-year-old and would fall asleep to. Those were the classic days of auto-reverse tape players, so it would continue playing one side and then the other through the night. I had the whole thing memorised.

There’s some ignorant, dated material in it, but his comic genius is undeniable and his warmth largely overshadows that stuff. The section about his family is incredible, and his ice-cream man bit still kills me.

These days in my Instagram feed, it’s Michelle Wolf who brightens my days (here). The people of the world are getting so utterly fucked over by the powers that be (even if many of them don’t know they’re being conned) that it’s hard to stay focused. Ms. Wolf has a way of skewering these monsters on the daily and providing little flickers of hope.

Here’s Eddie’s Ice Cream Man bit from Delirious

Jim Carrey's animal impressions

Animals are the true comedians. There’s nothing in the way with them. They are fully committed to who they are and what they do. It’s focused. It’s pure. Over my career, I’ve gotten endless mileage out of doing my best to become them on stage.

Carrey pushes everything to its breaking point. I’ll sneak in a recommendation for his documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond. Like animals, he fully commits, and it’s liberating to see that.

Here’s young Jim Carrey’s angry Saint Bernard:

. And if I’m allowed to add some extra brilliance, Charlyne Yi does an absolutely perfect impression of a turtle. This whole interview is a delight, but if you want to get straight to the animal goods, I think her genius comes out of its shell around 1:19.

Waiting For Guffman

I saw this movie at the right time in my life. I was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a group of us were trying to make a world-class ensemble theatre company at the ass end of a junkie-frequented strip mall. God knows what the quality of our work was, but we had more heart than a blue whale on Valentine’s Day.

Christopher Guest’s Waiting for Guffman nailed so many truths about amdram community theatre and did it so lovingly that we all quoted it endlessly. Catherine O’Hara talking about closing her eyes while looking at you as an acting technique is chef’s kiss.

Brain Candy gets an honorable mention here as well, and if Brits haven’t gone down a Kids In The Hall rabbit hole, they really ought to. They’re something of a Canadian Young Ones—and here are some immense classics in their catalogue.

Steven Wright

I get the feeling this won’t be the first time Mr. Wright has made this list. He’s a comedian so influential, with his unmatched one-liners and deadpan style, that generations later I see people unknowingly imitating his imitators. One of my all-time favourite jokes of his is this: ‘I wish the first word I ever said was the word "quote", so right before I die I could say, "unquote".’ I find it profound.

Mitch Hedberg wrote jokes in a similar style but was definitely his own guy too: ‘Rice is great if you’re really hungry and want to eat 2,00 of something.’

I’ve tried my hand in the past: ‘I never had kids—it skips a generation in my family.’

But Steven’s the master. Here are some of his finest: