Comedian Ari Shaffir Inks Two-Special Netflix Deal; ‘America’s Sweetheart’ Premiering In January
EXCLUSIVE: Comedian Ari Shaffir has struck a two-special deal with Netflix, announcing a January 14 global debut for the first hour, Ari Shaffir: America’s Sweetheart.
Shaffir’s specials will be his 2nd and 3rd with the streamer, on the heels of 2017’s Ari Shaffir: Double Negative, and his fifth overall. Taped at Capital Turnaround in Washington, D.C. earlier this year, America’s Sweetheart‘s logline is as follows: From the joys of domestic terrorism, to the genius of Kanye West, Ari Shaffir figures out a way to find the positive in gun violence, racism, censorship, political upheaval gay rights, antisemitism and opioid abuse in this hilarious and darkly uplifting stand-up comedy special.
Interestingly, Shaffir’s other special coming to Netflix marks an acquisition first for the streamer, per sources. This is the much discussed Ari Shaffir: Jew, which is coming to the platform later in 2025 after debuting on YouTube in 2022, marking the first time a YouTube special will live on the streaming service. In Jew, which has garnered over seven million views to date, Shaffir makes fun of his Jewish upbringing and religions as a whole.
Jew‘s Eric Abrams directed America’s Sweetheart, with Shaffir exec producing alongside Abrams and Jordan Levy. Tax Purposes, Inc. is the production company.
In a statement on the deal, Shaffir told Deadline, “Years of drug abuse has dulled my ability to feel jubilation over network deals but my mother will be able to brag about this to her friends at jazzercise, which is nice.”
A well-known stand-up, podcaster, producer, and actor, Shaffir’s first Netflix special, Double Negative, was billed by the comic as his version of a “Smashing Pumpkins Double Album.” Presenting it in two 45-minute episodes called “Children” and “Adulthood,” he in the former discusses the pressure he is getting from his family and friends to have kids, and why he is getting more and more thoughts in his head about why he doesn’t want to do that. In the latter, he discusses the freedoms of being child-free.
In addition to performing, Shaffir has executive produced many stand-up specials including Adrienne Iapalucci: The Dark Queen, which has just debuted globally on Netflix. His other EP credits include Big Jay Oakerson: Dog Belly and Sal Vulcano: Terrified, which have garnered over 2.3 million and 1.6 million views in their respective debuts.
Recently premiering his new travel podcast, You Be Trippin’, where he and a guest discuss hilarious disaster tourism stories they have encountered, Shaffir also co-created Comedy Central’s weekly storytelling series This is Not Happening and hosted it for three seasons. A regular on The Joe Rogan Experience, who has made numerous late-night appearances, he is represented by Levity Entertainment and CAA.
