I randomly watched Moses Storm: Trash White just after it debuted on January 20. I’m a student of stand-up comedy. I have a large shelf of books by and about the greatest stand-up comedians of all time. I consider stand-up comedy to be an extreme form of acting/performance, stripped of musical instruments, sets and props, other actors, plots and characters. The fact that the special is produced by Conan O’Brien – Storm has toured with the comedian/show host – was also intriguing. In this age of slow comedy death we’ve always been able to count on Team Coco.
But, here’s the thing: this isn’t stand-up comedy. Trash White is better described as a monologue or a one-man-show – it’s the kind of thing we’re used to seeing in a black box theater or on a PBS special, not on a stage at Zanie’s or in a Netflix stand-up stream. Fans of Hannah Gadsby will recognize this format. When Gadsby’s Nanette special streamed on Netflix back in 2018 it was hailed as a stand-up comedy revolution. It wasn’t. It was the revival of an long-established form of dramatic theatrical presentation that was ripe for a comeback on the heels of the recent popularity of other theatrical workhorses like the traditional musical which has been re-invading screens big and small for a decade.
Nanette was an intriguing one-woman-show offering some laughs and introducing American audiences to a talent mostly unknown outside of Australia. Storm frames his special like a Nanette-style monologue that’s focused on confessional and intimately revealing storytelling. Storm’s tales are often nuanced and detailed in a manner that few comedians normally afford themselves unless they’re specifically choosing to create long, unfunny sections for some unexpected laugh-filled payoff. Storm’s show also makes use of images and videos on screens to aid in his biographical narrative that – like Gadsby’s – includes plenty of intimate details of personal trauma.
Storm’s special is definitely more of a one-man-show than a stand-up comedy special – and post-Nanette reviewers seem to understand this new/old format for its own sake this time around. That said, Storm’s show leans much more heavily into the rapid-fire jokes format we normally expect from a comedy performance. Storm has married the best of Gadsby’s dramatic, intimate storytelling to a much more high energy character that can also veer into pure comic entertainment. I love a well-written monologue when it’s not shoehorned into the stand-up category, and Nanette earned its backlash for craven marketing, not for failed artistry. I also revere actual pure raw stand-up as one of the performing arts’ riskiest tricks. I’m not sure Storm’s blending of the two is viable over the long run, but it makes for a very watchable stream on Netflix right now.
Trash White is truly laugh-out-loud funny at times, but what makes it most unique is its focus on poverty. Richard Pryor grew up in a brothel and his comedy always included storytelling peppered with intense details about the chaos of a childhood below the poverty line. But Pryor’s – my second favorite stand-up comedian of all time behind George Carlin – tale-telling was intrinsically hilarious and his actual punchlines were phrased to cut and timed to kill. Storm is a more dramatic storyteller that presents more like a theater actor. But, his relating of the crushing absurdities of growing-up in the wake of the bad decisions of the adults caring for him are moving, disturbing, confusing, and maybe even familiar all at once.
Moses Storm: Trash White is currently streaming on Netflix