But nobody heard you firing!” (Interesting side note: the show is directed by Robert Townsend, who helmed the much dirtier - not to mention Cosby-bashing - Eddie Murphy: Raw.) Early on, he seems as amused as anyone that he’s doing a show for the hipper and much bluer Comedy Central, but in talking about it, he lays out his entire comic M.O.: “You aim at it, and you hit it.

The looseness of his live shows isn’t quite captured here (understandably, he went with tighter bits for posterity), but it’s still magnificently funny, focusing mostly on the evolution of relationships from dating through love, marriage, and parenting. Though Far From Finished is Cosby’s first recorded special since the mid 1980s, he hasn’t gotten rusty - he still tours all year, doing two-hour sets of laid-back, stream-of-consciousness storytelling, flexing a skill that he’s been honing for something like half a century now. Honorable Mention #2 Bill Cosby: Far From Finished It’s a smart and funny hour, covering topics from porn preferences and religion to rape jokes and her complicated relationship with the word “pussy.” In the hour that follows, Silverman forges new territory, quietly dropping - with only occasional exceptions - the oblivious, egocentric character of her earlier act and forging a relationship with her audience that is more honest and direct. Silverman re-teams with Liam Lynch, who directed her theatrically released stand-up/musical mash-up Jesus Is Magic, and shot her new act at the 39-seat small room at Los Angeles’ Largo (ridiculed for the size of the space in the prologue, she roars, “It’s called intimate, fuckface!”). It’s feels too soon to place the new Cosby and Silverman specials in the stand-up canon, but they also shouldn’t be excluded solely due to freshness. Honorable Mention #1 Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles Here’s our 50 best, of all time, with a couple of extras to boot: To celebrate this big night for televised stand-up, we put together the definitive list of great comedy specials created for television, home video, or digital (theatrically released concert films, like Silverman’s Jesus Is Magic, Cosby’s Himself, and - sadly - most of Richard Pryor’s filmed work, don’t qualify). Though the two comedians couldn’t be more different, both specials feel like landmarks: innovative, intelligent, and brilliantly funny. Meanwhile, over on HBO, Sarah Silverman is starring in her first special for the network, We Are Miracles. First off, Comedy Central is airing Bill Cosby: Far From Finished, the legendary comedian and sitcom star’s first new comedy special in over 25 years. This Saturday night promises to be a big one for comedy geeks.

Early steve martin stand up