In June 2022, Berlant and Early released the one-hour sketch comedy special Would It Kill You to Laugh? on Peacock.[16] It was directed by Andrew DeYoung and co-starred Berlant and Early, who play fictionalized versions of themselves in the future who had previously been on the sitcom He's Gay, She's Half-Jewish and are reunited by Meredith Vieira[17] after a bitter falling out.[18] They use the framing device of the reunion to display short skits with absurdist characters that they liked and built upon over a decade of creating and filming short comedy videos,[18] and structured the special around shorter, digestable segments that would be consistent with the popularity of short-form video,[19] but aimed to use comedy that would be timeless.[20] Some of the sketches had been planned for years, but were not filmed until Berlant and Early secured the budget for them. Would It Kill You to Laugh? was backed by both Peacock and A24.[21]
Paste positively compared Would It Kill You to Laugh? to Bo Burnham's special Inside for the way that both use identity in comedy to cause audience reflection,[22] and praised its "no-holds-barred surrealism".[23]Vulture praised the work as a "thoughtful and striking about partnerships and, in particular, about male–female relationships" and considered it "darker and more alarming" than Berlant and Early's previous collaborations.[24]Decider recommended that audiences view it for the pair's ability to mine the "rich comedic tradition for overconfident characters who find themselves in way over their heads but cannot seem to get themselves out of the situation without making things worse".[25] The special was nominated for Best Comedy Special at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards.
Cinnamon in the Wind, Berlant's largely improvised[26] debut stand-up special,[27] was recorded in March 2019 at the Upright Citizens Brigade for FX.[28] It was directed by Burnham,[29] who first suggested that Berlant film a special after going to see one of her performances.[30] For reasons that were never explained,[31] the special remained unreleased for over three years until debuting on Hulu in September 2022, coincidentally while Berlant's next one-woman show Kate (also directed by Burnham) was still running in New York City.[32] A Decider review praised Cinnamon in the Wind and pointed out the meta-textual element of the comedy.[29]The New Yorker similarly praised Berlant's comedy for "breaking down the typical relationship between performer, ego, and audience".[31]Kate finished its run at the Pasadena Playhouse on February 11, 2024, with a filmed special of the same name expected to be released in the future.[33]
^The Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, SXSW, The Just For Laughs Festival, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and The New York Comedy Festival. New Yorker; accessed March 3, 2018.
