CMMXXIV Netflix Review: Turkish Comedian's Special Is Barely Funny And Sort Of Problematic

When I got this assignment, the first two things that caught my attention were the title and length of the content. Usually, these hardly matter much—I mean, I only start thinking about them after giving the content a watch—but then this one comes with a cryptic title, “CMMXXIV,” and it happens to be almost two hours long—one hour and fifty-three minutes to be exact. That’s a lot for a stand-up comedy special; and I have seen and covered a lot of those. From that experience, I can say “CMMXXIV” is almost double the standard length. It is also in Turkish, which is a first for me, as I have only covered English-language stand-up so far. 

After a quick walkthrough on the internet, I realized Cem Yılmaz, the comedian who is at the center of it, is pretty big, especially in Turkey. The man comes with vast experience and multiple skills, like acting, screenwriting, and filmmaking. He is also a musician and cartoonist. However, I’m only going to talk about his latest stand-up special on Netflix here. The almost two-hour length is practically a mountain to climb in this genre. In this case, it turns out to be an obstacle for the comedian. He does manage to keep talking straight for two hours; I’ll give him that. But the jokes don’t quite flow, and there’s a scarcity of laughter. Sure, the stand-up comedy genre has changed nowadays, as a lot of comedians are taking the route of doing relevant social commentary or using the platform to talk about personal stuff, like mental illness. However, Yılmaz’s set doesn’t seem to have any such agenda. The vibe is actually pretty laid-back, an easy-going, fifty-plus comedian trying to entertain his audience by talking about things that happen in daily life.

The issue is pretty common actually; Yılmaz is a victim of being a boomer—I hate to use the term, but that’s just how it is. In this day and age, it is important to update yourself with the time and the world around you, especially if you’re in this profession. What used to be funny back in the eighties or nineties might not yield that much laughter now; for example, if anyone believes rape jokes are funny in 2025, then that’s a problem, and it can’t be justified by the excuse that dark comedy is not bound to be morally or politically correct. Yılmaz’s set is not that kind of troublesome, though; things might not be funny, but I would not blame the man here. Take this joke for an example: Yılmaz brings up the topic of women using so much time and putting infinite effort into contouring. The joke is no matter what the women do, no man would ever give them compliments like “wow, great contouring.” Why even do it then? The comedian asks. This is obviously based on the notion that women put makeup on themselves in order to please the opposite sex. Yılmaz, being a fifty-two-year-old man, obviously believes that and can’t possibly imagine that some women might actually like doing makeup and they’re only doing it for themselves and certainly not to please any men. 

Then there is another joke; this one involves the comedian’s teenage son, who is really fond of him. Yılmaz is divorced, and he shares custody of the boy with his ex-wife. Both the father and son love spending time with each other. Yılmaz, in his own admission, would do anything to please his son. But one day, when he asks the boy if he’ll look after his father in the future, he doesn’t get any viable answer. That surprises him, and he has made a joke out of it. But it stems from the place where a child is bound to look after their parents when they turn old. To clarify, I’m not against it, but should this be a mandatory obligation? The child never asked to be born; their existence was, after all, the decision of the parents, so why have this expectation from them either? Some of you might argue that’s just how the world works, but like I said before, I choose to evolve with time and like to question these preset mandates. Yılmaz, of course, doesn’t quite think of that. 

Does this all mean nothing in the set works at all? No, absolutely not. Yılmaz’s mockery of the very popular recent-time myth (although it’s debatable) that says “AI will take our jobs” is quite funny, especially the part where he criticizes people for focusing on the word “artificial” more than “intelligence.” People have no problem being controlled by intelligence, as long as it’s not artificial, Yılmaz quips. However, his jokes also land bumpy when he brings up women into the equation—he is talking about the ones who usually do a whole lot of surgery to make them look beautiful. How dare they say anything about artificial intelligence when their whole existence is kind of artificial? Sorry, I don’t think it’s funny, but you are free to laugh; art is subjective after all. Another moderately funny joke would be that Turkish men like being called “toxic” because the term, with different spelling but almost the same pronunciation, has an entirely different meaning in that language; it means “well-fed male part.” You do get the drift here, right?

Before closing this piece, I should clarify that my entire observation is based on Yılmaz’s latest set only, and nothing else. By no means do I intend this to be a personal attack on the performer; that’s never right. Oh, and lastly, the comedian does explain the title. It means 2024, as the special was shot in the year 2024. I sincerely thank him for clarifying that; hopefully in the future I get to enjoy Yılmaz’s set if I am assigned to cover one again.