New trend in stand-up?
I recently watched Punching Henry, and thought it was rather funny, but it also touched upon a bunch of rather serious and somewhat depressing subjects. I know it's not by far the first comedy to also feature some seriousness, but in the rather narrow sub-genre of films about stand-up comedy, as well as regular stand-up specials, I've noticed a bunch of titles in a similar vein the last few years. Some examples are Neal Brennan: 3 Mics, Tig Notaro: Hello, I Have Cancer, Manny Lewis, and of course Louie, as well as Horace and Pete. All of them are funny at times, but they're also so much more than just jokes. And I'm not talking about "important" political comedy, or satire about current issues... I mean just talking about being alive and about the human condition, in a most earnest and naked way.
Now I know there's King of Comedy and Punchline from the 80s, and I vaguely remember those being rather serious also, but still, this way of mixing very real and open conversations about actual problems into stand-up comedy, even if it means not even trying to be funny for 30 minutes (as in Horace and Pete) strikes me as fresh. And I like it.