Wait – did Adam Sandler do something good?

It is safe to say that critics do not really care about Adam Sandler's comedic style.

He is a huge star, a fact that Netflix heavily bet when the streaming service signed it for a contract with four films in 2014, before relaunching it last year.

But his filmography includes at least two entries with a 0 percent mark on Rotten Tomatoes ("Bucky Larson: born to be a star", which he wrote, and "The Ridiculous 6", a Western parody dedicated to Netflix and by his side, with Terry Crews, Steve Buscemi, Danny Trejo and Nick Nolte – just to name a few. Several of his other films oscillate between 1 and 10%.

This probably explains the title of his first special stand-up for decades: "100% Fresh". This is part of his contract with Netflix which has resulted in a plethora of movies showing the comic trying a new direction, but that critics have generally despised.

The most surprising part is simply that the new special is good. And why it's good maybe enlightening: it relies only on Sandler's absurd observations and a puerile humor distilled into short parodic songs that can not help but sneak into your head.

By robbing Sandler of all the luggage that is usually provided – that means David Spade, Rob Schneider (who appears only for a brief moment, the worst of the special), all the excessive costumes and absurd intrigues – the audience can focus on Sandler. The pianist Dan Bulla is the only other person on stage. He co-wrote all the songs and sometimes plays the role of gold sheet.

Sandler does not totally abandon ridiculous voices or ridiculous characters; it's just not trying to turn them into feature films. Instead, the special set seems to have been designed for social media generation. It is made up of dozens of concerts, ranging from tiny comedy clubs to arenas in Los Angeles and New Jersey.

Almost all segments – the longest lasting about a minute, up to the last 10 minutes – look different. Sometimes, multiple performances are combined into a single bit of less than 60 seconds. The result is that everyone could easily be dropped into a tweet, or post on Instagram, and stay completely alone.

This speed enhances the peculiarity, which gives him the impression of spending time with a friend who thinks only of everything that goes through his head – far from spending 90 minutes with a singular idea.

And it's laid back to boot. He breaks himself constantly, laughing on his own. He wears hoodies, t-shirts and loose and unbuttoned shirts. He recounts silly jokes like "I'm going to the gym, of course, but only to get my wife," and then he's completely deflated.

Perhaps the greatest reward of the special is how much the musician is a gifted musician. His ape artists are as varied as Joy Division, Interpol, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Migos. The songs are cheerfully childish and usually revolve around a simple idea, such as that of a smelly Uber driver, what we have in our pockets in the modern world or the distribution of your child in a room from theater to school. ("My child only has one line in the room, I said that his child had only one line / it's in the first five minutes but my wife says we must always stay until the end, "he sings.)

The two best almost safe moments of virality on social media are unexpected in very different ways.

One is a pre-recorded piece of Sandler disguised trying to get to a subway in New York City. He plays the same material as in this special, but no one finds it funny. He does not get a cent, but he looks dirty. It's almost as if Sandler was saying, "Yeah, I know it's stupid, but at least it's fun?"

The second title is the one-two totally unexpected of the last songs in the series: one to ode to his late friend Chris Farley and the other to his wife, Jackie Sandler.

He introduces Farley's song with: "It's a very special song." And that's it. With a montage of Farley played on a screen behind him, Sandler talks about his friend with unexpected sincerity, even if the lyrics are usually humorous.

Midway through, he embarks on a painful guitar solo (really!) That lasts more than a minute.

Then Sandler says a truth: "We would tell him that you will end up like Belushi and Candy / He said these guys are my heroes, that everything is fine and dandy," before presenting a painful scene of the burial from Farley:

"But a few months later, the party ended

"We flew to Madison to bury our friend

"Nothing was harder than saying goodbye

"Except that Chris's father is crying"

The song is deeply moving and ends with a coda: "Maybe if we make enough noise, he will hear us."

"I was anxious to sing that and I knew it would be special," he told the audience, before remembering his friend. "He was the best, he was the best."

In the last minutes, Sandler kept this vulnerability by closing the show with a sincere song – so funny and a bit dirty – to his wife with an updated version of "Grow Old With You" from "The Wedding Singer".

He recounts their relationship, including a reminder of the title of the special: "When I'm on a diet, you remove my potatoes / Tell me (insulting) all those guys who have read rotten tomatoes / J & # Hope that they will die growing old with you. "

Perhaps, for the first time in a long time, Jackie Sandler will not have to wish death to critics who praise the special. Because by erasing all absurd objects, the comic seems to be remembered for what made it funny in the first place: to be himself.

Appeared originally in the Washington Post

MORE COVERAGE: Adam Sandler is still so funny »

Adam Sandler wins praise at the Cannes Film Festival »

Criticism of the "Meyerowitz Stories": Noah Baumbach exposes his grievances with humor