Anthony Jeselnik Essentials

For Anthony Jeselnik, no joke can be too soon or too far over the line. Whether it's the Boston Marathon bombing in the title track of his Thoughts and Prayers album or child abuse in “Offensive”, from 2013's Caligula, it's all fair game for the Pittsburgh-born comic. But thanks to Jeselnik's laconic delivery and sharp wordplay, one-liners that might've been intolerable have a surprising finesse. And like the best of Rodney Dangerfield, Jack Handey and other masters of the dark stuff, Jeselnik's jokes are too absurd to seem truly mean. Instead, his standup adds to the discussion about what's funny and what's better left taboo.