Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Whitmer Thomas: The Golden One’ On HBO, A Comedy Special That Begat A Family Reunion

Whitmer Thomas’s mother sang in a band that toured along the Gulf Coast and Caribbean, but she never lived to see her own success, or that of her son. In her last words, she proclaimed Whit to be “The Golden One.” That’s the title for his debut HBO comedy special, which is more homecoming documentary and emo concert than your traditional hour of stand-up. Which might not have been entirely what Thomas was expecting when he returned to the old Flora-Bama…

WHITMER THOMAS: THE GOLDEN ONE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: There’s a chance you’ve seen Thomas before onscreen but didn’t know it at the time. He showed up on GLOW in cosplay as a Sheila the She-Wolf superfan, guest-starred in a season eight episode of The Walking Dead as a member of “The Saviors,” and also has appeared in episodes of The Good Place and You’re The Worst. And as a comedian, Whit has performed at the biggest, most prestigious festivals, from Montreal to Melbourne.

His first big break came in 2014, when he starred in a 12-episode animated series for FXX, Stone Quackers, based on his childhood in Gulf Shores, Ala., and with a voice cast that included John C. Reilly, Heather Lawless, Ben Jones, and Whit’s childhood buddy, Clay Tatum. Tatum co-directed The Golden One with Whit, which has them road-tripping back to Gulf Shores and putting on a show at the Flori-Bama on the beachfront state line. The hour cuts from the concert Whit puts on there, back to footage from Syn Twister, the band his mom had with her twin sister that regularly headlined the Flori-Bama, to present-day interviews with Whit’s brother, father, cousin and his aunt. Many of them had remained estranged for at least a decade since Whit’s mother died as result of substance abuse.

That tragedy also shaped Whit’s comedy.

As he says early in the special: “It’s just impossible for me not to compare myself to her. I think that’s the reason that I want to go do my show at The Flori-Bama. Because that venue means so much to my family and to my life. It’s how my mom was able to support me and my brother, and I want it to feel like I’m doing my show inside of my mom’s heart.”

What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?: Thomas has previously toured as an opener for Bo Burnham, and he chose Burnham, Chris Storer and A24 to produce his HBO debut. It has their undeniable fingerprints on what you see here, as well as those of their frequent collaborator, Jerrod Carmichael, whose Home Movies came out a year ago on HBO.

Memorable Jokes: Whit’s first onstage joke doesn’t arrive until more than six minutes into the special, but it’s a humdinger, as he explains why, “When I was a kid, I was very cool.” How cool? A guy kidnapped him, but thankfully, Whit’s dad foiled the abduction before anything too traumatic could happen to him. In fact, it’d be Whit’s dad who’d cause the family’s first trauma by leaving when Whit was in the fourth grade. But he also spins that into clever punchlines, too.

Most of the other big moments onstage come via songs, as the former emo band singer/songwriter wails about being dumb and in love, about how he compensates in bed for his performance anxiety, or imagining emo kids all grown up, or trying to facilitate a singalong with the audience about his mom partying herself to death.

But the memories you’ll take from this special more likely will come from his interactions offstage with his various family members. There’s a cousin, who after skeet shooting and proudly displaying his Trump 2020 cap throughout the filming, breaks down while confessing that he hasn’t spoken to his mother (Whit’s Aunt Jude) in a decade. His dad, meanwhile, cheerfully is back in the picture. His aunt, tearfully so, now 63, but still the identical twin of Whit’s late mother, which makes their reunion that much more bittersweet. She recounts how the sisters’ band could’ve, would’ve and should’ve had a record deal with Virgin Records in the 1980s.

Our Take: “You’re the golden one. That’s the last thing my mom ever said to me,” Whit confides to us. “It’s really a lot of pressure. I was declared the golden one. And here I am flailing in my adulthood. Trying to connect the dots.”

By choosing to connect the dots, though, he delivers a humanizing portrait of one Gulf Coast’s family struggle with heartbreak, addiction and loss. And perhaps most importantly for him personally, if not also professionally, he reconnects the pieces of his own family’s puzzle to make them whole once more. Which all comes together onstage in the closing numbers.

Our Call: STREAM IT. “Was this ever a comedy?” Whit sings near the end. “I want to be irreverent and silly.” My guess is he can do that, as well as achieve some of his greater hopes and dreams that he sings about for laughs, a lot easier now that he’s connected those dots.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.

Watch Whitmer Thomas: The Golden One on HBO Go or HBO Now