Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Chris Fleming: Live At The Palace’ On HBO Max, Demonstrating Why He And HBO Stand Above The Rest In Comedy
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Chris Fleming: Live At The Palace
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Chris Fleming brings his high-energy comedy and keen observations about life, pop culture and our seeming over-reliance on pretending everything is normal to Chicago to film his first stand-up comedy special for HBO. Fleming already has the stamp of approval from another literal comedy giant out of Massachusetts, as Conan O’Brien serves as one of his executive producers. And after two decades of climbing, Fleming has finally ascended to teh greatest heights of comedy himself.
The Gist: If you’re vaguely aware of Fleming but not already onboard, then that awareness likely has come through clips of him spreading like wildfire on social media delivering ruthlessly hot takes from both the comedy stage as well as guesting on his friends’ podcasts. He also has two previous specials, Showpig (released on YouTube and Facebook), and 2023’s Hell on Peacock.
You may also have seen him on episodes of Abbott Elementary, Loot, and multiple appearances on the late CBS late-nighter, After Midnight.
Fleming, who grew up in the far western suburbs of Boston and graduated from Skidmore, roasts himself and his upbringing in this, his first hour for HBO.
What Comedy Special Will It Remind You Of? What if you combined the comedic brilliance of Maria Bamford with the aesthetic genius of Prince?
Photo: Greg Endries/HBO
Memorable Jokes: What do Seth Meyers, Terry Gross, Adam Driver, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Oreo’s, the president of Skidmore College, and Mike Birbiglia have in common? They’re all fodder for premises and/or references in Fleming’s routines, which exhibit both choreographic and linguistic flair.
One moment he’s weighing the relative personality traits of different dog breeds. Another he’s imagining the demented business practices that’s allowing one of America’s favorite treats to top a dessert untouched, while the other is deconstructed and demolished almost beyond recognition, if still within the bounds of literally good taste.
He’s equally adept at acting out an imagined scenario in which NPR host Terry Gross chases the actor Adam Driver down the street after their interview got cut short, as he is inhabiting the inanimate cast-iron skillet that has come alive after too many years without a proper cleanse.
Fleming also pokes fun at himself, revealing how he fumbled a response when Lin-Manuel Miranda reacted favorably to one of his Instagram clips; how in a rare moment of feeling hyper-masculine, a stranger confused him for an elderly actress; and how his ego got the better of his bank account in a hat store with his guy friends. Do you doubt him? “You think I’m not gonna bring receipts,” he crows.
Our Take: Fleming doesn’t run around the stage so much as he prances, skips and bounces like a one-man ballet. He even jokes at one point that interpretative dance is keeping his finances afloat. Or is he keeping the interpretative dance community afloat?
Either way, he’s nurtured a look and a presence all his own. A custom purple one-piece with tearaway sleeves. Sparkly ruby red slippers evoke a sense that we the audience are in Oz with Fleming.
Does that make him Dorothy? Does it even matter? As he jokes: “I released a special two years ago and it sparked a nationwide manhunt for my pronouns.’ Fleming is not about to give you easy clear-cut answers, nor should he have to. He’s content enough to let us know how strangers can roast him without meaning to, and how even as a sixth-grader, his peers knew he was not like the other kids. The older kid at the lake feared harming Fleming, apparently: “He sees something in me that he deems unthrowable.” Never mind that young Chris wanted to be thrown, or that older Chris throws himself about the stage with complete abandon.
He might’ve appeared more fragile in his childhood. But now, grown into his own skin both emotionally and comedically, he shows us that what looks like fanciful whimsy is not just for show. Oh, it’s for show, alright, but also for show business. The mischievous glint in his eyes as he delivers lines like “cheddar is getting sharper every year,” or deliberately starting another bit over without edits just because he didn’t like the path an ad-lib led him down.
He knows where he’s going, even if his audience might not have a clue.
“I’m trying to grow my fan base beyond women who brought a knife to prom,” he jokes in his opening minute. By the end of his closing number, you’ll be wanting to crown him king and queen of the prom.
Our Call: STREAM IT! While other platforms (Hulu, Amazon Prime) throw bags of money to lure big-name comedians away from Netflix, HBO has remained the tried-and-true home for the best voices in comedy, whether they’re already famous household names or should be. It’s gratifying to see Chris Fleming stay true to the vision he had starting out in stand-up two decades ago and be richly rewarded for it. Strap in and enjoy the ride!
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.
