A Unique Medical Procedure, and February’s Other Must-See Comedy Shorts

Each month, many funny videos are posted to every corner of the internet — from the platform formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, TikTok, and sometimes other weird places we’ll have trouble embedding. Because you’re busy living your life, you might miss some of these funny videos and feel left out when others bring them up in conversation. Well, worry not! We’re here to make sure you’re not listening in on conversations but leading them … as long as those conversations are about funny internet videos. Here are our favorite comedy shorts of the month.

“The Architect Who Designed New York, Episodes 6–10,” by DC Pierson

DC Pierson’s ongoing series of front-facing videos has been delighting us for months, and this compilation of the latest installments is a perfect diving-in point for the uninitiated. More so than Robert Moses, László Tóth, or Adam Driver in Megalopolis, Pierson’s character captures our experience of the idea of a thing crashing up against its reality simply by taking the perspective of “Um, actually, every bug is a feature.” Watch if you want to perfectly understand this series of words: “Just a reminder, please bring cushions to the Glow Turkey before he bangs his Thanksgavel.”

“Elon Sleeping at the White House,” by Austin Nasso

Tech bro turned comedian turned tech-bro-lampooning tech bro Austin Nasso is back in our “pages” with his take on what an Elon-Donald White House sleepover might look like. It’s top notch and accurate down to the tie length.

“Happy Football Week,” by Samuel Lanier

This new deadpan animation from Samuel Lanier, just in time for Super Bowl season, offers a little study in emotional masculinity, which, true to Lanier’s style, comes around such an unexpected corner that it hits once your guard is fully down. “Happy Football Week” sees a coach whispering instructions to his team using an inspirational non sequitur about his daughter who is currently working on a web series. “She wants to be a storyteller. She says there are stories — that need to be told,” the coach says as his players hang on every word. I’d follow him into football battle any day.

“Hot Chocolate Fundraiser,” by Noallou

Noallou’s impersonation of an elementary-school-fundraising-company representative is eerily precise, especially the way he creepily tosses sample product to students who’d much rather be learning geography than listening to whatever pseudo-charitable bullshit all these little front-of-the-class spiels were, are, will be. That character is what had us leaning in, but what kept us watching was his description of the hot-chocolate prizes. Truly next level.

“Porch Girl,” by Sari Rae Eichenblatt

Sari Rae Eichenblatt’s gently prickly slice-of-life comedy stars Taylor Ortega as an actress asking anyone and everyone who drifts by her porch for advice on whether or not to take advantage of an unorthodox career opportunity (Caleb Hearon, as a holier-than-thou mailman, is a standout). It is ultimately, of course, an exercise in futility, as a lonely and atmospheric blue cityscape perfectly captures by the film’s end.

“Sleight of Hand,” by Alex Dzialo and PJ Adzima

One of my favorite genres of person is “dude practicing their thing in public,” which Alex Dzialo’s exceptionally charming riverside short captures. A one-sided phone conversation between a striving young magician spending money to make money (The Book of Mormon’s PJ Adzima) and his (presumably) disapproving girlfriend, “Sleight of Hand” manages to, in record time, achieve pathos where other shorts would settle for quirk.

“Talib Kwali Hat,” by Don Isley

Never has a man so deftly defiled an article of clothing as Don Isley (a.k.a. Funk Beeezly) has in this spot-on short about cadet caps. His summation of the lid as synonymous with overwrought, hyperpolitical freestyle rap is … well, perfect.

“This Crazy Priest Is My New Favorite TikTok Account,” by Hotel Art Thief

Hotel Art Thief’s handle on the increasingly thin line between that which is not necessarily ridiculous enough to be fake and that which is too ridiculous to be real is unmatched basically anywhere else on the internet. Case in point: this compilation of videos from a priest influencer, which just barely fooled me into thinking it was legit up top, even though I knew who was sharing it with me. Stay for the Wachowski-level experiments in reality-bending that Hotel Art Thief also regularly excels at.

“What I Can Offer,” by Dax Flame

Dax Flame is the latest stud in a long line of brilliant cringey gents, like Zach Galifianakis, Kyle Mooney, Michael Cera, Carmen Christopher, Tim Robinson, Sam Richardson; the list goes on and on. Something about well-intentioned suburbanite earnestness never fails to scratch an itch we can’t seem to escape. And, best of all, Dax has got so much more to offer than “What I Can Offer.”

“Would You Do This Medical Procedure?” by Jeff Braun

For the second month in a row, Jeff Braun has served up a banger. Wait until the end for a cunning twist that will make you wish he really was a brain surgeon who could swap his comedy brain with yours. No, that’s extreme, but you’ll probably like the sketch.

Like what you saw? Want to be in this monthly roundup? Show us your stuff! 

Luke Kelly-Clyne is Head of Studio at Hartbeat and a watcher of many web videos. Send him yours at @LKellyClyne.

Graham Techler has contributed writing to The New Yorker and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Send him your videos at @gr8h8m_t3chl3r.

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