Iliza Shlesinger: Confirmed Kills (2016 TV Special) User Reviews

Complicated but Funny Comedy by an Amazing Performer

[kurtvs-1 · 7/10 · 27 September 2016]

I have watched Iliza since she won Last Comic Standing in 2011. She's grown tremendously since then. She's polished her delivery, expanded her material, hardened her body, perfected her voices. Her performance in this show is intense, rapid fire and wonderful and impressive in many, many ways. The material is at once tight and wide-ranging, aimed at your gut and at your head (not much at your heart), great physical, vocal and intellectual stuff going on. And I think that's why the 3 reviewers before me gave bad reviews. There's kind of too much going on.

I'm very fond of Kathleen Madigan and I think I can best explain my thoughts by making a comparison. Madigan's humor seems fairly low-brow at first glance. Her persona is a sloppy drunk floozy, not terribly bright, but her humor is slyly much smarter than it appears. Madigan doesn't want you to necessarily think well of her as a person, she wants you to enjoy the material and unconsciously be subverted by her almost subliminal messages. Iliza, on the other hand, wants you to be impressed by her -- by her material, by her mind, by her body, by her politics, by her comedic abilities, by her command of her instrument. Her messages, and there's a lot of them, are not subliminal, they're stridently overt. Her biggest message, however, is that she wants you to be impressed by her brilliance. And guess what, she actually is brilliant, but there are many points where she eases off the momentum of the comedy for the purpose of showcasing that brilliance.

Iliza's comedy is cooking on multiple levels at all times. There's the text, the subtext, the messages, the metatext, her running commentary on her own performance plus all the schtick. It can be exhausting at times and at it's worst, some layers undercut or negate what's happening in other layers. For example, if your text is pointing out how silly and self-defeating it is that women are always trying to impress men and garner their attention and your sub-text is trying to do exactly that, there's a friction going on between those layers that. She even refers to her performance as a stealth TED talk at one point and that was exactly what I had been thing for the last few minutes.

It's super-high energy, non-stop. Her approach to this show is like an Olympic athlete. There's a lot of posturing and preening and some of the postures get repetitive and it can be distracting and confusing when she uses a posture you've seen before to a very different purpose.

As I said at the beginning, I was very impressed by her and her growth. I wish she could get Elaine May to help her with her next show and help her use her brilliance to bolster the comedy and not the other way around.

On point

[krishnadyehouse-66313 · 8/10 · 30 June 2021]

She is hilarious and on point as usual. Great show until the very end. She could have left out the shark tank bit. It was stupid and Shark Tank is stupid itself. That's why I gave 8 of 10 :)

you people need a sense of humor

[chrisdye-62271 · 8/10 · 19 June 2017]

I am a man and I am admitting I was found of this girls news spoof show and I found thus on Netflix and thought I would try it I found her hilarious and very sexy myself she is a feminist but who cares really shes a great comic and I found the shark tank bit hilarious if your looking for good comedy try this show

Good hour of laughs

[fischer_patrick · 7/10 · 6 February 2023]

I was not familiar with Iliza Shlesinger before I watched this. This was my first time watching her work. She was exceptionally funny in this special for Netflix. Covering topics ranging from Party Goblins, mermaids, ugly giants, the differences between the generations and the sexes; the special was a fast paced roller coaster of laughs. Iliza's humor seems to both understand and hate her status as a millennial. Due to this her humor definitely strikes a cord for a younger audience. The special ends with a hilarious Shark Tank bit. I was really impressed with her intensity throughout. The way she punctuates her jokes with screams at just the right moments reminds me of Sam Kinison. Her use of exaggerated body language and frequently acting out her jokes reminds me of Sebastion Maniscalco. She is a commanding comedic performer and I look forward to watching her other specials.

Great show. Intelligent, witty, playful.

[hottercore · 10/10 · 30 October 2018]

The negative reviews are so heavy handed, and all transparently aimed at what I found to be the best aspect of her performance.

Most of them berate her for touching on serious topics but I think it's perfectly fitting for the medium and her brand.

All of her shows are quite funny and entertaining and if I had to choose this would be my favorite. She's established in the industry and has a fan base so it makes sense that she would "take the risk" of using her wit and exposure to speak about important issues.

If you watch the shows in debut order she steadily exchanges gags and memes for jabs at social constructs. I'm honestly really surprised that the reviews here are so negative, satire and stand up is one of the last fields that isn't censored, bought, and scripted to produce the desired message.

The show is enjoyable, both men and women can find something to relate to in her comedy. You just need to remind yourself that she isn't attacking someone when she speaks of feminism and body positivity, she isn't blaming anyone either. She says quite clearly that every person is a part of the cult of insecurity, we all buy in to it.

But yeah, great show. If she ever came by I would def be buying tickets.

Hilarious, as Usual

[hellsingfan · 10/10 · 2 October 2016]

Iliza is a hidden gem when it comes to female comedians. I absolutely adored her last Netflix original, and while the speeches went on a little too long, she was able to outweigh those with her usual gut busting show. A little slow at first. But picks up to the usual momentum she does with her stand up. She does extremely well both visually and audibly. Again, I'll admit it's not as good as her last Netflix original, but as long as you are okay with her speeches she goes through, which honestly do give some pretty good points, you're in for a treat as she delivers a hot plate of unique humor. She is able to take the stereotypes down like your grandpa from ww2

Unfunny, pseudo-feminist Agony

[DrFreeman86 · 3/10 · 23 September 2016]

It seems she burned down really fast after the last one, which was more enjoyable. But now its real agony, void of jokes and filled with stale and preachy feminism. "All women should love their bodies and are perfect, being oppressed by insecurities dictated by the media", that type of thing. The structure of the bits is lacking or unoriginal and there is no real narrative that would feed jokes or interesting callbacks. If any, they refer to the last special. The whole torture is garnished with thinly veiled self-congratulation by the comic. Not even low-brow pandering by utilizing cheap American patriotism was left out (" i love America, being American, the army keeps us save" and such American tropes) Watching it is quite pointless.. Better go re-watch Louis CK.

Last night my daughter was laughing so loudly!

[bknb02 · 10/10 · 19 January 2021]

I finally got her to tell me what she was watching! She didn't want to tell me and have me log in and knock her off Netflix in case everyone else in the family was on it, understandably. So I politely waited until tonight and after she had gone to bed and turned on this show! BTW, I had to see it because my daughter, who is a highly trained actress and has just started stand up comedy and performed a few places around the world, said Iliza Snlesinger is the best comic in the world. I was like what? I mean my daughter is sweet and supportive but that is very high praise! Clearly I had to see for myself. I was very amazed by not only the Lol factor of Iliza's comedy, I have to use her first name because that last name is no "Smith"! Not trying to be too personal. I was amazed though by how many topics she covered and in what depth! Her imagination is amazing! I mean I felt like I was right there with her! I could really relate too, which is great because I am probably her Mom's age, etc... Still, I found her to be really funny and informative! Ever since Hannah Gatsby it is not enough that the comedy be funny, I want to feel informed too now. I cannot wait until Covid is over and we can seek Iliza out in a live show and surprise my daughter!! This will be amazing! She seems super sweet too! I also watched Her Elder Millineal show and boy was I so embarrassed! I thought millennial meant born in this century. I had no idea my kids are both millinneals and I have been making fun of them in front of my daughter! I should have known because she really does act like one! They can be so annoying and it was fun to see Iliza make fun of them, herself. Once again, I could relate! Who knew, I have 2 millinneals, 3 chihuahuas, 2 American Short Hair cats and a grand baby on the way, as well as having been locked up for covid for 10 months! It explains a lot!

Anyway, her shows are great! I can see why my daughter confidently proclaimed she and Katherine Ryan are the best comics. I have to add Tom Papa and Hannah Gatsby in there too! I would totally buy stock in this young lady!

Unspeakably bad and painfully unfunny

[hyoga_saint · 2/10 · 12 June 2017]

This comedy special is neither comedic nor in the least bit special, except for its amazing capacity in making 75 minutes seem like over 3 hours. Tackling subjects such as gender, feminism, and race, Iliza Shlesinger gathers more (forced) applause than laughs while making contrite, unoriginal points in ways rarely funny or entertaining.

An audience eager to like her and say they had an enjoyable time was not able to mask the obvious: this show is a weird mix of physical and observational humor while not hitting the mark on either, with producers trying *very* hard to make it all seem so clever and hilarious with an abundance of painful, misguided hashtags.

Shlesinger is fond of using her elongated, shapely body to make these weird Grinch-like steps and poses, while contorting her face in off-putting grimaces and using distinctive, cartoonish voices that made me think of a bizarro, unfunny 90's Jim Carrey.

I can accept that not being my cup of tea while resulting humorous to other people. However, what came out of Shlesinger's mouth was just miss after miss after miss, whether speaking about a night out unleashing her inner party goblin or going on and on about women who identify as mermaids, in a particularly puzzling, never-ending bit.

I did chuckle one time near the very end and will admit that a couple of observations in her social commentary were okay, but I had to really push myself to endure this show over 3-4 sittings, sticking to the end only to fairly assess it: it was dreadful.

(+) A couple of her social observations miraculously hit the mark. That's about it.

(-) Jokes extremely hard to find and even those apparent never hit the mark. Uninteresting, painful material. No. Just...no.

Big Step Back

[Kaptain_Bluddflagg · 5/10 · 20 July 2018]

So this special was a HUGE step back from her previous one, Freezing Hot, and is actually not quite as good as War Paint. There are still some funny parts in it, and it is still very clear that Iliza is a talented comic, but the hamfisted feminist/femal empowerment portions just don't work here. I'm not against the message per se, but she takes some liberties with reality in order to make a point, and that dilutes her message.

She goes on for quite a bit about how women are insecure about their weight and all but blames men for this, erroneously claiming that the super thin female beauty standard embodied by heroin chic in the fashion community is the result of male preferences. This has never been true; while men do find models attractive, every man I have ever know (myself included) prefers women of a much healthier weight. Men like curves, and almost always have.

I don't say this to diminish anyone's experience with negative comments from former partners, or even random jerks on the internet, but if you are going to try to affect a positive change in society it helps to be more precise, and the perpetuation of of a mentality which seeks to blame others for your own perceived shortcomings and insecurities is not empowering. Women are, in my experience, far more critical of each other than men are of women. This is somewhat touched on in the special, but doesn't get nearly as much attention as it should given how pervasive it is.

This special marks a change in Iliza's tone. It is clear that she is trying to raise awareness in addition to entertaining an audience, and she is still a very funny person; it is equally clear that this is an issue that is important to her, but she needs to tighten up her message a bit if she wants it to have the impact she feels that it deserves.

Confirm bombs

[birchallm-45363 · 1/10 · 23 September 2016]

Watching this actually made create an IMDb account so I can write how bad this was. Why does she keep putting out specials please stop. I love stand up however this girl I think kind of hurts it in someway by these specials. I think she just goes on stage and doesn't put work in it and once she comes up with enough crappy bits for an hour says to herself great time for my next special that's going change stand up. Why would you call it confirmed kills that's the worst title ever. she should name her next special tricking people into thinking I'm funny by just making as many body movements and weird voices so hopefully I get to be on some crappy sitcom or game show. I can probably write one of her new jokes for the new special doesn't suck when you going out with your girls to the bar and you can't dance or speak to hot guys(begin terrible dance sequence followed by silly voice when trying to talk to the guy) I would have stopped the first line but this website makes you write ten lines.

In conclusion didn't like it I wish she would stop making specials.

Just not all that funny...

[bonsaibass · 3/10 · 26 September 2016]

Observant but not especially insightful. She does a good job of articulating certain tropes and hallmarks of the modern, Western, liberal arts educated, upper middle class, female, millennial, ego monster's experience. The whole set seems forced (forced for content, for message, for relatability) - like she's only hearing the laughs and not the hollowed, dead spaces around them. She never achieves the state of mass hypnosis you need to get the audience to go along with her on the journey...and so the jokes never really land. I appreciate that she thinks she's saying something important, and that she has a voice worth hearing, but I don't think she earns it with her performance. Lots of shtick and meme-signalling throughout that comes across as manipulative despite trying to wink and nod knowingly at the audience. "Fast" and "loud" do not in themselves = "funny." That all said, I think it's an honest piece of work and these sorts of strident performances tend to focus an artist's following. I'm sure she'll strengthen her diehards and perhaps gain a few new fans because of this grating, 80s-90s era, Kinisonian-ish, rant, but no doubt she's lost a few here as well - I was on the fence (mostly cause she's alright to look at) but I'm no longer interested in watching any future specials from Iliza. Next time, less lurching at the laugh and more actual funny, please.

Intelligent

[rukshun · 5/10 · 10 October 2016]

Obviously intelligent woman delivers a lot a of moments that make you think , but nothing that makes you laugh. Based on this I would say she's more suited to be a motivational speaker versus a comedienne. Came across as perpetually angry , other comics , male and female have similar delivery styles and have been hilarious. Unfortunately that's not the case here. Somewhat preachy, heavy on the feminism. Might be our demographical differences, but nowhere on this hour seventeen minute journey did I find myself laughing. Made a good start, thought she would build upon her opening bit. But that was the funniest part of the entire thing.

redundant, disappointing, and painfully annoying

[aakker · 4/10 · 26 September 2016]

If you want to listen to an hour long, live narration of Facebook posts from your high school classmates that went to liberal arts colleges, then this might be the 'comedy' special for you. This special is titled Confirmed Kills, and I can indeed confirm that Iliza Shlesinger has now killed all of her jokes (and that goblin voice), and kicked them while they were down. It seems like each of her specials circle around the same jokes about the same topics that have been told by many other comedians before her. There isn't much originality in Confirmed Kills, and nothing that really sets it apart from anything else she's ever done. I found it irritating after about fifteen minutes. I love stand-up comedy, and initially was excited to watch this, but all-in-all I would not be so quick to recommend this to people. I really hope Iliza Shlesinger can come up with some new, original material soon because, based on other reviews I've read after viewing this Netflix special, Confirmed Kills may just kill her popularity.

Fallacious, but in a funny way

[ersbel · 27 September 2018]

The whole show is fallacious, but in a funny way. And she does have a point. Still, this is a comedy show and it is far better than most philosophical debate I have assisted.

Soap box and politics

[gtsteff · 1/10 · 30 March 2022]

Good until half way through, when she segways to politics.

Iliza: I'm worried. I'm really worried. I'm really worried about or friends, our family... And our country! Crowd cheers.

Like wtf are they cheering for???

I tried to like this

[trubymj · 2/10 · 11 March 2017]

Way too political and not enough meat. Nothing against her but when it comes to female comic style, I'm more of Amy Schumer fan. Not really impressed... I honestly did not laugh at all through the entire show. I felt like it was more of a preachy rant on some shitty hipster blog on Facebook rather than a comedy show, complete with some tidbits of humor that came off more as political sarcasm then actual jokes.

She was funny enough, but the show was mediocre...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 9 June 2018]

Now, I have never heard of Iliza Shlesinger before I stumbled upon this stand-up comedy show on Netflix.

I will say that she is funny and she definitely has a very energetic and truly magnetic presence on the stage. With an abundance of energy, she did feel quite at home on the stage.

Her material had some good jokes, however there just was a bit too little variety in the topics in the material for my liking. And that ultimately lead to this as being a mundane and mediocre stand-up comedy show for me.

painful

[meluluzzzq · 1/10 · 23 June 2017]

This is just pathetic. It's not even cringe worthy, it just makes you feel empty inside. But it certainly makes you wonder what the hell is wrong with this world - why and how she was recognized as a comedian in the first place? should have never think of doing a comedy. Just find another job, you are clearly very bad at this. And the worst part of it - she is constantly stealing jokes and yet she steals bad ones!

Unbelievable.

Political

[jono-59749 · 4/10 · 1 September 2018]

She talks about very important issues that do need addressing.however Isn't the point of a stand up is just to have fun??