Although Amazon Prime Video doesn’t do a very good job of promoting its comedy specials on the Prime Video home page, it does offer stand-up fans another outlet to see some of the best comedians in the business. There just aren’t as many comedy specials throughout the year as you may find on Netflix.
Regardless, Prime Video has delivered new comedy specials for 2024 featuring Sam Morril, Marlon Wayans, and Subhah Agarwal, each of whom bring their own style of humor. Although some of the humor is darker than you may be comfortable with, especially in Wayans’ Good Grief. But if you’re looking for some laughs, you’ll find them here among the best stand-up comedy on Amazon Prime Video right now.
Looking for even more laughs? Check out our other streaming guides, including the best stand-up comedy on Netflix, as well as the best comedies on Amazon Prime and the best comedies on Hulu.
Sam Morril: You've Changed (2024)
The name of Sam Morril’s latest comedy special, You’ve Changed, does get explained in the course of the hour, as one of his critics reemerges from the past… in shall we say a very different way. Morril’s argument is if they can change that much, then so can he. Morril also shares a string of texts from his ex that might be considered Baby Reindeer-adjacent, although it never quite goes as far as Netflix’s show.
Morril isn’t breaking new comedy ground by making jokes about his sex life, bad dating partners, or getting older. But he knows how to tell a story and how to take back command of the room whenever any hecklers try to get a word in edgewise.
Marlon Wayans: Good Grief (2024)
For his latest comedy special, Good Grief, Marlon Wayans mines the deaths of his parents for some dark humor. But you may not be prepared for the level of detail that Wayans goes into about taking care of his mother late in her life. There’s some deeply unsettling things he describes about her that simply aren’t funny.
The things that are funny are about Wayans’ upbringing, and his theory about why his father was a Jehovah’s Witness. However, the most profound part of this special is the way Wayans uses his humor to deal with not only his grief for his parents but all of the other people in his life that he’s lost as well.
Subhah Agarwal: Airport Pigeon (2024)
Subhah Agarwal has a way of letting the audience laugh with her and at her while describing her ongoing struggles with her mental health in her comedy special, Airport Pigeons. It’s particularly funny when she recounts how she’s been bullied by children as an adult, but she explains how it happens. She also finds a way to bring up Stephen Hawking’s love life and uses his own documented affairs to bring the humor out of his situation as well.
Joel McHale: Live from Pyongyang (2019)
Trevor Wallace: Pterodactyl (2023)
Kevin James: Irregardless (2024)
Hank Chen: I'm Not Supposed to Be Here (2023)
Russell Peters: Deported (2020)
4.5/10Nate Bargatze: Hello World (2023)
Zarna Garg: One in a Billion (2023)
Kellen Erskine: Zoomed Out (2022)
Sebastian Live (2009)
Sebastian Maniscalco is the kind of comedic talent who isn’t afraid to shine a light on the many idiosyncrasies of humanity, and if his stand-up special Sebastian LIVE is to be believed, our species has plenty of quirks to poke fun at.
the special was filmed at the prestigious Paramount Theatre in St. Louis, and if you’re in the mood for the kind of observational humor that will have you rolling around on the floor in laughter, look no further than Mr. Maniscalco.
Jim Gaffigan: Noble Ape (2018)
You don’t get into our comedy roundup twice unless you’re really funny, but it should come as no surprise that Jim Gaffigan gets a second shout-out. In his 2018 special Jim Gaffigan: Noble Ape, the renowned talent (he starred in the wonderful Linoleum earlier this year) gets a bit more personal, incorporating his wife’s harrowing run-in with cancer into the show.
It’s a bold decision on Gaffigan’s behalf, but it’s a mature call that serves to remind us that life may throw a million wrenches our way, but sometimes all we can do is snicker as the projectiles fly toward us.
Jim Breuer: And Laughter for All (2013)
Jim Breuer is an unchained force to be reckoned with in the outrageous 2013 stand-up special, Jim Breuer: And Laughter for All. Originally produced for Epix, Jim ditches the Goat Boy threads in favor of something a bit more rooted but equally off-the-charts.
Exploring topics of fatherhood, modern suburbia, and teen-year antics, Breuer’s approach may be unrelenting, but fans of his style know exactly what they’re signing up for.
George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing (2005)
One of the O.G. titans of stand-up, the late-great George Carlin left far more than your traditional mark on the entertainment world. A constantly called-upon influence for today’s leading comic legends, the man’s talents are on full-display in George Carlin: Life is Worth Losing. Jam-packed with Carlin’s rapid-fire and astute commentary on the continually-crumbling Planet Earth, this humorously bleak eulogizing remains as relevant today as the maestro’s words were nearly 20 years ago.
Iain Stirling Failing Upwards (2022)
Cocoa Brown: Famous Enough (2022)
Eddie Izzard: Wunderbar (2021)
George Carlin: You Are All Diseased (1999)
8.5/10Jimmy O. Yang: Good Deal (2020)
Brad Williams: Daddy Issues (2016)
Rhys Darby: Mystic Time Bird (2021)
Andrew Santino: Home Field Advantage (2017)
Maria Bamford: Weakness Is the Brand (2020)
Josh Blue: Broccoli (2020)
Jayde Adams: Serious Black Jumper (2020)
Jim Gaffigan: Quality Time (2019)
