Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
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Curious
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London Hughes moved from London (yes, she’s named after the English capital) to Los Angeles in February to take over America, just in time to get locked down with the rest of us. In her stand-up Netflix debut, Hughes wonders why, if confident and successful male comedians can hook up with models and celebrities, then why can’t she?
LONDON HUGHES: TO CATCH A DICK: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: If you’re an avid Netflix streamer, then you may already have spotted London Hughes earlier this month, as part of The Netflix Afterparty: The Best Shows of The Worst Year, joining David Spade and Fortune Feimster in an in-network wrap-up of 2020. That trio will co-host regular weekly episodes of The Netflix Afterparty, starting in January, talking about whatever’s popular in 2021.
She’ll also appear in Netflix’s upcoming series, History of Swear Words, hosted by Nicolas Cage.
Just last week, Universal Studios announced a deal with Hughes for her to star in a movie she’s co-writing with Noushin Jahanian for Will Packer Productions (Night School, Girls Trip) called Hot Mess. That follows her November deal with NBC for a put-pilot on a single-cam sitcom she’s also star in; this one co-written with Larry Wilmore.
All of this showbiz buzz follows her successful staging of this hour, To Catch A Dick, across the UK, culminating in a best show nomination at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Her show, executive produced for Netflix by Kevin Hart and his production company, focuses on her reflections on hitting her 30s and her inability to find a good man, hoping to find the answers by tracing her steps back through her previous relationships. It was filmed in October outdoors with a masked audience at Universal Studios Hollywood.
What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?: Although Hughes did appear as a sex worker in an episode of Fleabag on Amazon Prime Video, there’s none of that here. Her hour also isn’t quite like that of any of the American women you’ve seen joke about their sexual history, either, although in her frankness, Hughes may remind you of Nikki Glaser. At the end, Hughes assures us that everything she has joked about is 100 percent true.
Memorable Jokes: As seen and heard in the trailer above, Hughes delivers a quality zinger about her plight as a single woman trying to look for love in a bar: “A single guy in a club? You got more chance of finding a Black girl in a Judd Apatow movie.”
She also described her pandemic lifestyle this way: “Every day’s like a dickless Groundhog Day.”
While her love life has been locked down in America so far, her dating history in England included plenty of misadventures, which she gladly describes and even acts out several times. One of her preferred maneuvers also might inspire a catchphrase? “Get yourself a Gucci handbag.” You’ll have to learn about the “gooch” on your own time. And while everything she describes comes from true stories in her life, she does indulge in one fantasy act-out involving a member of the British Royal Family. All of which earn her multiple applause breaks from the audience.
Here’s a bit in which she describes her white vegan boyfriend’s misguided attempt at foreplay:
Our Take: An opening sketch set in her dressing room finds Hughes delivering a pep talk in the mirror, in which she reminds herself, “Because you are comedy Beyonce. Yes, you are.” She also compares herself to the late great Richard Pryor, and then to current megastar Kevin Hart. The gag ends with an extra below-the-belt gag, to so speak.
While she’s still far from the heights of Beyonce or Pryor, the Hart comparison might track, especially since Hart’s HartBeat Productions has taken her under his wing.
But comparing herself to her male peers is precisely where she truly shines, noting how Saturday Night Live‘s Colin Jost can somehow marry Scarlett Johansson, and “Pete f***ing Davidson” can hook up with both Ariana Grande and Kate Beckinsale; “meanwhile I’m not hot enough to suck Larry David’s dick,” Hughes laments. “It’s not fair!” Indeed. But what’s a successful funny woman to do, particularly when she’s above “civilian men” who are too insecure unskilled to go down on her? And that’s society’s fault, Hughes says, reminding us how young girls are convinced by pop culture and peer pressure to learn how to give good oral sex, while boys receive no such instructions or inspiration. Normalize men going down on women! That’s Hughes’s battle cry in the end.
Which, it turns out, was the point of her opening sketch all along.
Don’t feel too bad for Hughes come 2021, though. One of her jokes already has a promising update.
When I typed “Is London Hughes” into Google, the next word that appeared on my screen wasn’t “pregnant” (as she jokes), but “married.” So she needn’t worry about a lack of suitors once the pandemic is over.
Our Call: STREAM IT. You’re going to see a lot more of Hughes on Netflix and elsewhere in 2021, so you should check out this hour to get a better sense of why.
Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.
