Chelsea Peretti: One of the Greats

There’s not enough good stuff here to sustain an entire 75-minute special, but Chelsea generally keeps things moving at a good clip, so the lulls between the more satisfying laughs are never too long, and her style strikes a nice balance between sardonic and wacky, which elevates even her weakest jokes. The writing and directing tries to mess with the traditional standup form by adding lots of weird non-sequiturs – mostly quick, scripted cuts to unusual attendees or unorthodox audience behavior – but it doesn’t commit to the concept enough for those moments to do much more than disrupt the momentum. This seems to betray a lack of confidence in the material, which is a shame, because without the pressure to fill out an hour-plus, this could have been a really solid set. All in all, it’s a good album that would’ve been a great EP.