A Masterpiece!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Blistering performances.

You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but Tom Papa is a genuinely funny guy. Like a lot of the best comics, he makes observations on everyday life and turns them into stories that make you laugh out loud. A lot of what he talks about revolve around his wife and two young daughters, throwing two pet cats into the mix for his views on family life. He also takes a stab at social media platforms like Facebook to generally humorous reaction. This routine was filmed in New York City, and even though he doesn't come across like a big city guy, he has a connection with his audience resulting in frequent applause for his poignant observations. And he does it without resorting to gutter language, so that's a plus. The only other review on Papa's routine here on IMDb is on the negative side, so read us both for some balance and take a look for yourself. I think you'll get a chuckle out of the guy.

"Tom Papa: Live in New York City" is a 41-minute comedy show from 2011, so this short film (if you may want to call it that) had its 5th anniversary last year. You see the actor mentioned in the title on a stage in New York, apparently in front of a huge crowd where he tells us his take on social media, pregnancy and gender issues. I must say here and there is a mildly funny moment, but as a whole I did not enjoy the watch as much as I hoped I would. It is all subjective though I believe. This is the kind of comedy that has been learned by heart by Papa before and presented then down to the tiniest hand/mouth movement and I feel that it is all exactly the same. There is also no spontaneous interaction with the audience or so. It is okay if he is not too good at the latter as what he does apparently entertains many many people judging from the constant audience laughter reactions. Another entirely subjective reason why I did not really like it is because I like my stage comedy performances a bit suave and not as rushed as Papa's approach seems to be. So yeah, for me this was not a good watch, but I can see if some people may see it entirely different. Still gotta give it a thumbs-down.