The remaining slate of 2016 Netflix comedy specials was announced on Tuesday, and it rounds out the year with eight men.
Joe Rogan, Colin Quinn, and Dana Carvey are among the newly announced specials. Cedric the Entertainer, Reggie Watts, Michael Che, Russell Peters, and Gabriel Iglesias add a little more diversity to the list, but fellow comedian Bo Burnham’s song from his recent Netflix special feels kind of relevant here. (Carvey’s special is even called Straight White Male, 60.)
So far this year, Netflix has released two standup specials from women: Ali Wong’s Baby Cobra, which debuted in May, and Sofía Niño de Rivera’s Exposed in June. Iliza Shlesinger’s previously announced special, Confirmed Kills, comes out Sept. 23. Compare that to the 22 total standup specials from male comics Netflix U.S. will have released by the end of 2016, including a new gut-buster this Friday from… Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy? So, technically, that’s 23.
That’s not to say female comedians aren’t represented elsewhere; Chelsea Handler’s new talk show and Maria Bamford’s original series Lady Dynamite saw positive reviews this year, but sometimes when you open up Netflix, you’re faced with this glaring inequality—white men holding microphones, staring back at you.
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When it debuted earlier this month, the top 10 most popular comedians on new comedy streaming app Laugh.ly were men. Founder Dave Scott remarked that it noticed this trend early on in the beta testing. It reinforces “that this is definitely a male-dominated industry,” he said. “Even when you look at top-selling albums of all time or most-followed comedians, women were rare.” (According to Klout, Ellen DeGeneres is the most influential comedian on Twitter, but she’s followed by a lot of guys.)
In terms of bridging this gap, Comedy Central might be doing a little better. While it’s also released specials from just two women this year, the channel has plans for half-hour specials from Aparna Nancherla, Jacqueline Novak, Naomi Ekperigin, Emily Heller, and Martha Kelly. Netflix had no official comment, but there’s also a possibility it’ll have more specials to announce in the future.
Here’s the full list of remaining specials:
Sept. 16
Cedric the Entertainer, Live From the Ville
Oct. 7
Russell Peters, Almost Famous
Oct. 21
Joe Rogan, Triggered
Nov. 4
Dana Carvey, Straight White Male, 60
Nov. 18
Colin Quinn, The New York Story
Nov. 25
Michael Che, Michael Che Matters
Dec. 6
Reggie Watts, Spatial
Dec. 20
Gabriel Iglesias, I’m Sorry for What I Said When I Was Hungry
