The comedian premieres his latest comedy special alongside director Josh Safdie at the iconic Paris Theater.
When Adam Sandler strolled into Manhattan’s Paris Theater for the New York City special screening of his new comedy special, Adam Sandler: Love You, he was sporting a pair of bright red track pants and a T-shirt. A casual look for a premiere? Admittedly yes, but also classic Sandler, whose Dad-uniform of basketball shorts and big graphic tees spawned last year’s Adam Sandler Summer micro-trend. The chic crowd, a buzzy brigade of filmmakers, comedy writers, podcasters, and personalities, had sophistication covered: Donning their end-of-summer finest, the chattering attendees packed the Paris to ring in Adam Sandler Autumn.
“If I had to guess, there are about 35 people here?” Sandler wisecracked to hundreds of laughing audience members, including actress Natasha Lyonne and professional hot dog eaters Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi, during his introduction.
Love You is Sandler’s sophomore Netflix comedy special, a riotously raunchy follow-up to his Emmy-nominated 2018 Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh. Featuring hold-onto-your-hat humor and signature Sandler songs co-written by collaborator and Saturday Night Live writer Dan Bulla, the 70-minute special captures an intimate evening with the Hollywood icon. The advance screening offered a unique opportunity to watch Love You the same way it was filmed — amid a live audience thrilled to see Sandler return to his comedy club roots.
“This is the only time people will see it together like this,” Sandler said, “unless somebody’s got a big TV.”
Sandler’s special also marks the comedy-directing debut of filmmaker Josh Safdie, who first collaborated with Sandler in 2019 on the critically acclaimed drama Uncut Gems. A harrowing departure from Sandler’s usual comedy blockbusters, Uncut Gems gained admirers from within New York’s downtown zeitgeist; if the crowd outside the Paris teemed with classic Sandler fans, swarming the barricades with Sharpies and DVDs of Billy Madison, the crowd inside included personalities like Uncut Gems actor and socialite Julia Fox, New Yorker writer Naomi Fry, performer Ruby McCollister, and comedian Stavros Halkias.
Josh Safdie and Adam Sandler
Love You’s cold open is stress-inducing Safdie at his finest; a tracking shot follows Sandler out of his town car, past a horde of autograph fiends, and into the hallway of the venue’s green room, where an endless array of interruptions threaten to sidetrack him from taking center stage. When Sandman finally breaks out, he’s fully in charge — even while his flow is interrupted by broken monitors, a stray dog, and a hole in the venue floorboards.
The cruddiness of the Love You venue was an intentional creative choice from Safdie and Sandler. “We had the idea: We’ll make it the worst venue ever,” Safdie explained during the post-show Q&A. “We had to build the venue as a character.” With Oscar-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young (Arrival, Selma) and Emmy-nominated production designer Sam Lisenco, who has worked on previous Safdie projects as well as Netflix productions like May December, the team scouted a “liminal space” that “felt like a comedy zone for amateur nights.”
Sandler is, of course, no amateur — though “mature” isn’t the first word that comes to mind to describe his comedy. Silly songs punctuate long-winded bits that continue ramping up in hilarity. Sandler’s embrace of meandering humor in the special is a highlight for Safdie, who compared Love You to Sandler’s early jokes.
“You look at 100% Fresh and those [jokes] — the average length was maybe two minutes,” Safdie said. “This one’s cool because it’s like the old albums.”
“It’s got big, big chunks,” agreed Sandler.
Adam Sandler
Love You ends on a note of unexpected poignancy. Sandler concludes the special with an earnest tribute that pays homage to a host of comedians who paved the way for him, including Eddie Murphy, Carol Burnett, and numerous others. “The portrait I think it paints of you is pretty amazing,” Safdie said to Sandler during the Q&A.
Based on the audible sniffles from the crowd, which included such comedians as Sam Morril, Rob Schneider, and Please Don’t Destroy trio Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, the audience concurred. Comedian Sarah Sherman, also known as Sarah Squirm, who has opened for Sandler on tour and co-starred in his recent film You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, moderated the Q&A with tears in her eyes.
“I sobbed my eyes out at the ending,” Sherman admitted.
“You little baby,” Sandler teased.
Afterward, attendees filed out into the late August night, chatting and sharing their favorite bits from the special with each other. “Comedy really is the most incredible thing that we have,” Safdie said. “It’s the time we have to not worry.”
