Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Rory Scovel: Religion, Sex, And A Few Things In Between’ On Max, A Stand-Up Special That’s Both Self-Referential And Straightforward

If you’re one of the “lucky” ones who saw Babylon in the movie theaters, then as a comedy fan you were at once elated to see Rory Scovel pop up and make the deranged goings-on even more deranged, so when he says he’s going to tell jokes about religion, sex and a few things in between, you may well ask yourself, just how debauched is this going to get? The answer may surprise you, no matter what you guessed.

RORY SCOVEL: RELIGION, SEX, AND A FEW THINGS IN BETWEEN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Scovel’s acting has taken center stage, as it were, since the pandemic, as viewers are more apt to recognize him for his starring or supporting turns onscreen in Physical, Old Dads, or the aforementioned Babylon, than for his stand-up. But Scovel is a stand-up, if perhaps not the most traditional one, turning unconventional tricks into laughs on multiple appearances of Conan. No wonder, then, that Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco (Conaco) produces his Max special.

This is his fourth stand-up special, following 2015’s Rory Scovel: The Charleston Special for Seeso, his 2017 Netflix special Rory Scovel Tries Stand-Up for the First Time, and his 2021 improvised documentary effort on YouTube, Live Without Fear. For this go-around, filmed in Minneapolis at the Goodale Theater, Scovel isn’t ad-libbing as much as usual, although the “few things in between” his routines about religion and sex allow him to offer running commentary on how the show is going and his suggestions on how to make it even better.

Memorable Jokes: On religion, Scovel has the most fun imagining Biblical New Testament authors Matthew and Peter as Matt and Pete, putting himself in the era and actually receiving their letters and gospels in the mail, and reacting to them as such. Doing so, and questioning why parents make kids dress up church even, allows him to ponder the meaning of it all. It’s a scam, right? he asks. “You’ve got to go if you’re going to figure out how to get to the next level.” On the other hand, if he’s losing the audience, he concedes that he did decide to tell his religious jokes while on mushrooms. Which leads him to quiz the audience: Where do you think Scovel had more discussions with God: In church or while on mushrooms? Either way, it turns out the comedian does have some beliefs (because atheists are boring, he says), even they sound a bit jarring when he describes them aloud to his eight-year-old daughter.

On sex, much like religion, Scovel finds his truest gear when he absurdly recontextualizes the premises as everyday occurrences. So if you’ve never participated in a gang-bang, a sex party, or even a threesome, he’ll make it even more awkward by picturing the host of a sex function setting up a snack table, or guys making small talk outside. Even if none of that’s your thing, then Scovel will turn to more intimate relations between consenting couples and make them weirder for you, too. He’ll joke about watching a documentary on whales where they for whatever reason include a scene of employees masturbating a whale, or about asking his dad if he eats mom out, or why anyone would participate in something that he refuses to call “booby sex,” except, of course, for that one time.

It all comes back to bite him in the ass, so to speak, when he describes sitting down with his wife for the first time to watch his Netflix special, which he opened with jokes about anal sex. “You know my parents are gonna see this, right?” she asked him immediately afterward. Scovel’s short answer: He hadn’t thought about it at the time. But now that you mention it, he might as well play out the aftermath for us.

Our Take: The few things in between are when and where Scovel gets meta, wondering what the crowd must be thinking. In doing so, he chooses not so much an inner monologue as Jim Gaffigan does, but goes for more of an impersonation of a typical audience member, when he even decides to change his voice at all.

He takes this route right at the start, following his entrance to the thumping beat of “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (do the kids know about FGTH and “Relax”?!) by noting: “I realize the lights and the music are a little bit much,” adding in an audience member’s voice: “It is just a speech, right?” Maybe it’s a bit much for a 7-minute set on a regular Los Angeles comedy club showcase perhaps, but this is a special, and so he has the music, the lights, and wears a suit. “You can’r wear a fucking hoodie up here anymore.” Even if you’re doing observational material that Jerry Seinfeld could’ve done (but probably wouldn’t have because graphic discussions on religion and sex weren’t TV-friendly topics in the 1980s).F

Halfway through his 70-minute set he stops to offer notes to Jeff, his director, to dub in audience reactions or even comments, which do come into play later.

And yet, for all of Scovel’s playful transgressions, there are plenty of moments and bits that a comedy club audience could’ve heard last year or decades ago, from asking why religious paintings always depict God/Jesus as a hot dude, to wondering what it would be like to suck a dick, to pointing out how people who cast doubt on the COVID vaccines because they don’t know what’s in the vaccine have no problems walking into a meal at the Golden Corral. At least when Scovel makes fun of his wife for collecting crystals, he acknowledges those jokes are “low-hanging fruit,” but “daddy’s gotta eat.”

Our Call: All things considered, this is perhaps Scovel’s most traditional stand-up special, which if you’ve been following his work, can come across as slightly disappointing in that respect. Then again, as someone who has followed Scovel since before he had TV credits, it’s funny to have to take the bait when he stops for a moment to declare: “So if anyone’s reviewing the show, grow up. How did you turn that into a job? That’s absurd to me. Unless you think this part’s funny, then put it in the review.” This part wasn’t that funny, and yet Scovel is funnier the less you can think of him as Jerry Seinfeld, so for that reason, I encourage you to STREAM IT to warm up for his even weirder stuff.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat. He also podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.