History Recap / TheTwilightZone2019S1E1TheComedian

* BookEnds: The episode opens on a mural of figures decorated on a wall in the nightclub. It ends focusing on the same mural, only with Samir added to it.

* FreezeFrameBonus: While Samir is checking his phone for any sign of Deven after his act, his contacts list [[MythologyGag includes characters from the original series]], such as [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E37KingNineWillNotReturn James Embry]] and [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E3MrDentonOnDoomsday Al Denton]].

** The name "James Embry" is seen on the wall of the green room, which is name of the main character in [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E37KingNineWillNotReturn "King Nine Will Not Return"]]. It's also one of the names on Samir's contact list in his phone; other names include Al Denton (the main character of [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E3MrDentonOnDoomsday "Mr. Denton on Doomsday"]]), Cadwallader ([[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E6EscapeClause "Escape Clause"]]), and James Corry ([[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E7TheLonely "The Lonely"]]).
** The flashing "Franklin" sign at the bus stop references Franklin Gibbs, the unfortunate victim of [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E17TheFever "The Fever"]], who was haunted by a slot machine that repeated his name while flashing lights at him.
** Willie the Dummy from [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E98TheDummy "The Dummy"]] is seen in the background of one shot.
** Samir only getting laughter from the audience when he engages in personal stories evokes [[Series/TheTwilightZone1985 "Take My Life, Please!"]].
** At the bar, "Kanamit Lager" can be seen; it is named after the aliens from [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E89ToServeMan "To Serve Man"]].

-->'''Rena:''' "It's just ''names,'' Samir. I don't even know who these people are. People who wronged you, people you don't like. Your act is just you being superior to other people. Taking them down."

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: J.C. is willing to help people be successful comedians. However, he doesn’t care that his actions affect several people’s lives in the process. All he cares about is the success and thinks that people are willing to do whatever it takes to be successful at the expense of others.

* ButterflyOfDoom: Removing people from existence causes Samir's present to change. By removing a drunkard comedian who killed a mother and child in a car accident, the accident never happened. By erasing Rena's law school mentor, he robs her of the chance to finish law school, which in turn makes them much harder up for money, since she works part-time at a diner.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Some real life comedians have called the episode a very apt metaphor for what the job is really like, and how the second you put someone from your life in your act, the clock is ticking on your relationship with them, as they’ll never again fully be able to trust that anything they say or do won’t suffer a public mocking.

* DownerEnding: Samir, on realizing that he has erased actual people and lives, erases himself onstage, with no one the wiser. And then Didi stumbles upon J.C. herself...

* AssholeVictim: Once Samir realizes what's happening, he focuses on people who "deserve" to be gone. Of course, he screws it up.

Beware of spoilers below!

** The mere fact that Samir is onstage joking about someone seems to make everyone laugh, no matter if the actual jokes are funny or if certain people would normally find them so. The comedian who committed vehicular manslaughter while drunk seems to find it hilarious when Samir jokes about the crime that he committed, and Rena laughs both when Samir makes jokes about how David wants to have sex with her (which she had previously been offended by) and [[spoiler: when Samir starts joking about himself, despite being upset with him mere seconds before.]]

* KillEmAll: Samir's final routine has vibes of this-- he starts shouting out names at a breakneck pace, much to the audience's delight. Since every name that he mentions means that someone vanishes...

* AdultFear: Samir becomes greatly concerned when his nephew vanishes after his second act. Emphasized when he realizes that his nephew is absent in a picture that used to have him, and Rena is confused when Samir mentions him.

Samir (Creator/KumailNanjiani) is a political comedian who never gets a laugh. His fellow comedians chide him for not being "funny" and trying to infuse meaning into his work. Things change when he encounters the comedian J.C. Wheeler (Creator/TracyMorgan), who gives him advice in how to gain the fame and attention he desires, which comes with a dangerous effect.

* AdultFear: Samir becomes greatly concerned when his nephew vanishes after his second act. Emphasized when he realizes that his nephew is absent in a picture that used to have him and Rena is confused when Samir mentions him.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Samir wishes he were funny to get money. His wish comes true at a grave cost: it makes him rich, popular and beloved but it also reduced his girlfriend Rena to a [[FallenOnHardTimesJob waitress]] because he erased the man who helped make Rena a lawyer.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: J.C. is willing to help people be successful comedians. However, he doesn’t care that his actions affect several people’s lives in the process. All he cares about is the success and thinks people are willing to do whatever it takes to be successful at the expense of others.

* CrazyJealousGuy: Samir gets jealous of his girlfriend’s mentor and heckles him out of existence. Unfortunately, since he chose to get rid of the guy, it greatly impacts Rena’s professional and romantic life with Samir.
* DealWithTheDevil: {{Implied}} after Samir talks to the enigmatic J.C. Wheeler. J.C. helps him become a successful comedian, but anyone Samir jokes about in his acts ceases to exist. Samir argues that what he does is murder, but J.C. claims it isn’t murder if the person never existed at all.

* DownerEnding: Samir on realizing he has erased actual people and lives erases himself onstage, with no one the wiser. And then Didi stumbles upon J.C. herself...
* EnemiesList: Once he realizes [[MuseAbuse he can wipe people out of existence by using them in his routine,]] Samir makes one to exact revenge on people who've wronged him over the years or otherwise deserve to be erased in his eyes.
* EquivalentExchange: Samir can get a laugh when he relates a story about someone he knows, but after the set they're RetGone.

* GodInHumanForm: Implied. J.C. Wheeler is clearly [[LouisCypher no ordinary comedian,]] being fully aware of the destructive power Samir wields. Yet he is also a (former) world-famous comedian, given how the other characters talk about him in hushed tones and reverent voices. [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu Did we just see Cthulhu on tour?]]
* GoneHorriblyRight: Samir making his comedy a lot more offensive and aimed towards specific people has deadly effects. On a lesser note, Samir is now able to make his audience laugh so hard one woman falls off her chair spraying her champagne.

* HereWeGoAgain: After Samir wipes himself from existence, Didi stumbles upon J.C. and asks him for pointers, suggesting the whole ordeal will befall her this time.

** The mere fact that Samir is onstage joking about someone seems to make everyone laugh, no matter if the actual jokes are funny or if certain people would find them so. The comedian who committed vehicular manslaughter while drunk seems to find it hilarious when Samir jokes about the crime he committed, and Rena laughs both when Samir makes jokes about how David wants to have sex with her (which she had previously been offended by) and [[spoiler: when Samir starts joking about himself, despite being upset with him mere seconds before.]]
* InformedAbility: After making his deal with J.C. Wheeler, Samir's routine invokes roars of laughter from his audience -- even though he's typically doing nothing more than yelling about and insulting the subjects of his ire. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] given [[DealWithTheDevil the source of his "comedic" skill.]]
* InformedFlaw: Samir's stand-up initially is described as "not funny" by a fellow comedian who tells him he's [[{{Anvilicious}} too heavy-handed about politics]]. Except that's not that much different from the usual routine of his actor, Kumail Nanjiani, which is usually ''hilarious''. [[ZigZaggedTrope To be fair]], what we see of Samir's act isn't all that impressive, given his stilted delivery and apparent fixation on the Second Amendment.
* InsaneTrollLogic: Samir's attempts to justify his vanishing people sounds a lot like this--since you can only kill someone who's alive, making someone never be alive ''period'' isn't the same thing, right? J.C. Wheeler later does the same, claiming that murder is only murder if there are "crying moms" to mourn the dead.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Erasing Didi seems to be this moment for Samir. He clearly debates doing it onstage, but eventually goes for it, and then has a [[HeroicBSOD complete breakdown]] onstage, using his power to eradicate every person he can think of who has ever slighted him. Then the ending subverts the trope, as he ultimately chooses ''not'' to remove Rena from reality, instead [[HeroicSuicide choosing to delete himself]].
* KillEmAll: Samir's final routine has vibes of this--he starts shouting out names at a breakneck pace, much to the audience's delight. Since every name he mentions means someone vanishes...

* MagicAIsMagicA: The person Samir uses in his routine only gets him a warm reception (and subsequently erased from existence) if they have a ''personal'' relation to him. He tries using the president as a setup for one of his acts, but he gets the same blasé reaction from the audience as his political humor. This is also the least he has to do, he can immediately use hecklers for material just by using their names and something about them to spin into a set. It also seems to work ''any'' time he mentions someone on stage, which he seems to realize when he goes on after Didi and urges the audience to keep applauding after mentioning her to keep her from disappearing.
* MetaphoricallyTrue: PlayedWith. After one of Samir's erasures, a fan tells him that "[He] really killed it". Not as much killed, but erased from existing to begin with.

* MoralityPet: Rena serves as the main bit of moral standards Samir has. Once he chooses to talk about her mentor in one of his acts, it results in her life (and subsequently his) changing significantly and Samir suddenly regretting his actions. Near the end when he’s condemning several people in his life to nonexistence, Rena appears and shows off his book, which contains the names of several people he retconned out of existence. She then challenges him to do the same to her since she knows what he’s done, but he chooses to heckle himself instead.

** The name "James Embry" is seen on the wall of the green room which is name of the main character in [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E37KingNineWillNotReturn "King Nine Will Not Return"]]. It's also one of the names on Samir's contact list in his phone; other names include Al Denton (the main character of [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E3MrDentonOnDoomsday "Mr. Denton on Doomsday"]]), Cadwallader ([[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E6EscapeClause "Escape Clause"]]), and James Corry ([[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E7TheLonely "The Lonely"]]).

* NothingIsScarier: One of the cornerstones of the episode. Many of the scares come when the camera cuts to where someone was standing or sitting ''seconds'' before Samir said their name...and the space is now empty.

* RetGone: What Samir does to people with his routines. All photos disappear of the vanished person whether digital or physical, other characters say they don't know who Samir is talking about, and [[ButterflyOfDoom whatever actions that have affected the other characters have a ripple effect in the world.]]
* RippleEffectProofMemory: Even though everyone else in the world completely forgets the people Samir mentions in his routines, he himself doesn't. It's later revealed that J.C. Wheeler doesn't, either--but then, he doesn't exactly seem human.
* RousseauWasRight: [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzagged]] throughout the episode. When Samir discovers his power, he's determined to only erase people who "deserve it," like a rival comic who killed a mother and her baby in a drunk driving accident. Then the trope is subverted when envy and paranoia take over, and he begins vanishing people that he sees as a threat, including his girlfriend's law school mentor and Didi, his chief comic competition. He then follows it by [[DisproportionateRetribution removing everyone who has ever upset him in any way.]] ''Then'' the ending plays it straight, with Samir deciding to use himself as comic fodder rather than hurt anyone else.
* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Samir initially has this attitude; he believes infusing humor with meaning is what makes the humor matter.
* SelfDeprecation: Samir erases himself by insulting himself last, claiming he would be nobody without the audience. He needs the audience and their money and support to be someone.

* SnapBack: Once Samir erases himself, everyone ''else'' he had erased comes back.
* ToughRoom: Samir's jokes about the Second Amendment fall flat, even though his actor has done similar routines to a much more appreciative audience in real life. The fact he always uses the same "well regulated" joke in each of his acts may have something to do with it.
* TwoferTokenMinority: Didi is a rare ''triple'' minority--a lesbian black woman.
* WhamLine: Just when it seems Samir has [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope gone much too far]] and is about to erase Rena, this happens.

* WritingAroundTrademarks: Didi and Samir measure their success in how many "followers" they get online in general, rather than naming specific sites. It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] somewhat, in that many sites--from Instagram to Twitter--use the term "follower."

Samir (Creator/KumailNanjiani) is a political comedian who never gets a laugh. His fellow comedians chide him for not being "funny" and trying to infuse meaning into his work. Things change when he encounters the comedian J.C. Wheeler (Tracy Morgan) and gives him advice in how to gain the fame and attention he desires, which comes with a dangerous effect.

Beware of spoilers below!

!! Tropes for this episode include:

** The mere fact that Samir is onstage joking about someone seems to make everyone laugh, no matter if the actual jokes are funny or if certain people would find them so. The comedian who committed vehicular manslaughter while drunk seems to find it hilarious when Samir jokes about the crime he committed, and Rena laughs both when Samir makes jokes about how David wants to have sex with her (which she had previously been offended by) and [[spoiler: when Samir starts joking about himself, despite being upset with him mere seconds before]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Samir enviously erases Rena's law school mentor...which means that Rena herself wasn't able to complete her degree and now works in a diner. His reaction to her going on her shift screams this trope.
* MythologyGag:

--> '''Samir:''' Tonight, I want to talk to you about someone I've known a very long time. Clever. Lovable, in a lot of ways. Someone who you think would be a good person who has a lot to offer the world. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, I want to talk to you about... [[HeroicSuicide me.]][[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong elf]].

* DealWithTheDevil: {{Implied}} after Samir talks to the enigmatic J.C. Wheeler.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Rena stops Samir's final DisproportionateRetribution act by pointing out that he's not being funny or relevant, he's just hurting people because he can.

--> '''Samir:''' Tonight, I want to talk to you about someone I've known a very long time. Clever. Lovable, in a lot of ways. Someone who you think would be a good person who has a lot to offer the world. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, I want to talk to you about... [[HeroicSuicide mys]][[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong elf]].

* ShoutOut: Samir appearing on the painting of an audience at the end of the episode echoes the end of Film/TheShining. Samir's last routine also mentions a number of people named "Torrance".

* DownerEnding: Samir on realizing he has erased actual people and lives erases himself onstage, with no one the wiser.

** The flashing "Franklin" sign at the bus stop references Franklin Gibbs, the unfortunate victim of "The Fever", who was haunted by a slot machine that repeated his name while flashing lights at him.
** Willie the Dummy from "The Dummy" is seen in the background in one shot.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: During the first iteration of his "Second Amendment" bit, Samir points out that 11% might not sound like a lot until one considers what would happen to a plane that only makes it 89% of the way to its destination. The plot of the next episode is all about a plane that may not make it to its destination.

** The name "James Embry" is seen on the wall of the green room which is name of the main character in ''King Nine Will Not Return''. It's also one of the names on Samir's contact list in his phone; other names include Al Denton (the main character of ''Mr. Denton on Doomsday''), Cadwallader (''Escape Clause''), and James Corry (''The Lonely'').

* DisproportionateRetribution: Samir's final act begins like this, with him calling out (and [[RetGone erasing from existence]]) anyone who has ever upset him, including his dentist, a rude neighbor's entire family, and a school mate who ''wouldn't share a cookie with him.''

* GodInHumanForm: Implied. JC Wheeler is clearly [[LouisCypher no ordinary comedian,]] being fully aware of the destructive power Samir wields. Yet he is also a (former) world-famous comedian, given how the other characters talk about him in hushed tones and reverent voices. [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu Did we just see Cthulhu on tour?]]

* InformedAbility: After making his deal with JC Wheeler, Samir's routine invokes roars of laughter from his audience -- even though he's typically doing nothing more than yelling and insulting about the subject of his ire. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] given [[DealWithTheDevil the source of his "comedic" skill.]]

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Erasing Didi seems to be this moment for Samir. He clearly debates doing it onstage, but eventually goes for it, and then has a [[HeroicBSOD complete breakdown]] onstage, using his power to eradicate every name he can think of. Then the ending subverts the trope, as he ultimately chooses ''not'' to remove Rena from reality, instead [[HeroicSuicide choosing to delete himself]].

* RousseauWasRight: [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzagged]] throughout the episode. When Samir discovers his power, he's determined to only erase people who "deserve it," like a rival comic who killed a mother and her baby in a drunk driving accident. Then the trope is subverted when envy and paranoia take over, and he begins vanishing people that he sees as a threat, including his girlfriend's law school mentor and Didi, his chief comic competition. ''Then'' the ending plays it straight, with Samir deciding to use himself as comic fodder rather than hurt anyone else.

* DeadArtistsAreBetter: Samir in the end dies as he wrings one final laugh out of the audience.

!! Tropes for this episode include:

* MetaphoricallyTrue: PlayedWith. After one of Samir's erasures, a fan tells him that "[He] really killed it". Not as much killed, but erased.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Samir enviously erases Rena's law-school mentor...which means that Rena herself wasn't able to complete her degree and now works in a diner. His reaction to her going on her shift screams this trope.

** Samir only getting laughter from the audience when he engages in personal stories evokes [[Series/TheTwilightZone1985 "Take My Life, Please!"]]

* RousseauWasRight: [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzagged]] throughout the episode. When Samir discovers his power, he's determined to only erase people who "deserve it," like a rival comic who killed a mother and her baby in a drunk driving accident. Then the trope is subverted when envy and paranoia take over, and he begins vanishing people that he sees as a threat, including his girlfriend's law-school mentor and Didi, his chief comic competition. ''Then'' the ending plays it straight, with Samir deciding to use himself as comic fodder rather than hurt anyone else.

--> '''Samir:''' Tonight, I want to talk to you about someone I've known a very long time. Clever. Lovable, in a lot of ways. Someone who you think would be a good person who has a lot to offer the world. Ladies and gentlemen tonight, I want to talk to you about... [[HeroicSuicide mys]][[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong elf]].