Tim Robinson Understands What The Boys Are Going Through

The male comedians are going through something. I know, I know, but this time I'm not referring to the obvious ones who have lost their minds through some excess of steroid abuse and podcast appearances. I'm talking about the more thoughtful class of male comedy: Nathan Fielder, John Mulaney, Jerrod Carmichael, Bo Burnham. These guys are savvier, smarter, and more tethered to reality, yet no less stuck in some sort of existential crisis that seems to be affecting all men.

Mulaney and Burnham have waded through this ordeal in their standup, the former engaging with his personal drug and opiate addiction and the latter exploring what the internet has done to the people of his generation. Carmichael has turned his whole life into reality show exhibition in a desperate bid to find any authenticity in front of a camera. Fielder has explored the breaking apart of social communication and the human condition in multiple shows, most effectively in his series with Benny Safdie, The Curse, and most recently in the second season of his HBO show, The Rehearsal.