In the last few years, some of our very best comics — think Greg Giraldo, Patrice O’Neal, Gilbert Gottfried, and Norm MacDonald — have left us a lot earlier than we might have expected. I’d even include on that list the great Joan Rivers, who wasn’t exactly young when she died that bizarre death at that outpatient clinic in New York, but who I’m sure would’ve gone on a lot longer if she’d canceled that day’s appointment. Each of these artists was bold and brilliant in a unique way, and hence irreplaceable. But they have been replaced — by and large, alas, by politically correct newcomers who can’t hold a candle to them. The name that comes to mind first is that of the plus-sized Tasmanian lesbian Hannah Gadsby — not only because she’s won critical acclaim for her deliberately humorless, politically correct rants about being a victim of misogyny, homophobia, fatphobia, and, who knows, probably Tasmanophobia as well, but because other unfunny, annoying, man-hating women have taken her up as a role model, and, having no man in their lives to whom they can complain incessantly about everything, have transformed stand-up stages into opportunities to nag gratingly at paying audiences. Every now and then, however, a promising performer — somebody who actually does it right — turns up. The other day, the British hosts of the Triggernometry podcast, Francis Foster and Konstantin Kisin, interviewed one of them, an Estonian comedian in his early 30s whom I’ve never heard of before. It took only minutes to realize that Ari Matti was somebody worth looking into. His opening line, delivered with a grin, was at once droll and disarming: “I’m the dumbest guy you ever had on your podcast.” Far from it, as it turned out. Ari is bright-eyed, quick-minded, and every bit as energetic as Robin Williams at his manic best, although he has a boyish charm that Williams never did; he japed playfully with Francis and Konstantin in a way I’ve never seen a guest do before on that podcast, and talked to Konstantin, in particular, in a flirtatious manner that brought to mind Jude Law reeling in Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley. During the interview, Ari managed to be funny — and edgy — about a whole slew of topics that are far from intrinsically comical: the fall of the Soviet Union, Islamic immigration to Britain, the Nazi occupation of the Baltic states, the Russian–Ukrainian War. He admitted that Estonians, in the 1930s, weren’t exactly philosemites: “We took care of the Jews before the Nazis got there, because we didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot.” As for Nazi book-burning, so what? “We didn’t know how to read anyway.” He also served up what Konstantin and Francis rightly described as “not the best but the funniest” imitation of Jordan Peterson. (RELATED: Politically Incorrect Comedy Still Survives) But there were serious moments, too. Ari, who did stand-up for 15 years in Estonia (as well as in Australia, Canada, Spain, and Thailand, where he lived for longish periods), moved only last year to America. He loves it. So, as viewers of Triggernometry know, do Francis and Konstantin. Unlike many ill-educated Americans of his own age, moreover, Ari also despises Communism — it was, after all, the Soviets who held his people in bondage for most of the 20th century. That, too, is something he shares with Francis, whose mother is Venezuelan, and Konstantin, who fled from the USSR with his parents when he was a boy. It was engaging — and heartening — to hear three intelligent young (youngish?) Europeans talk seriously and sensibly about these topics. Ari also touched on the extreme contrasts between the generations in Estonia, where the old folks are mired in the eastward-looking past while Ari and his agemates are Westerners through and through, their sensibilities shaped from childhood on by shows like South Park and Family Guy. Ari got even more serious, it turned out, on The Joe Rogan Experience several months ago, on which he talked about growing up in a home with an alcoholic stepfather whom he feared and a mother whom he appears to have despised. Although Triggernometry and The Joe Rogan Experience have helped spread Ari’s name, the main reason why he’s beginning to become a name in the U.S. is Kill Tony, the weekly podcast hosted by Tony Hinchcliffe. (He’s the comic, you’ll remember, who, a few days before the 2024 election, at a Donald Trump rally in Madison Square Garden, called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” leading to prognostications that this jokeman had single-handedly won the election for Kamala Harris.) The premise of Hinchcliffe’s podcast is simple: aspiring comics are given a minute or so to perform some material, after which their work is judged by a panel of professionals. Ari first appeared on Kill Tony last year. He hit a home run, and thereafter, quite improbably, continued to do the same thing week after week. (RELATED: In Defense of Tony Hinchcliffe) Indeed, he seems incapable of writing a bad bit. On one appearance, for example, he told about being at a restaurant where a couple at another table were having an argument — but since it was two gay guys, “they both made sense! Everybody stayed on one topic! Nobody was bringing up old shit! Just two logical, superior brains trying to find a solution!” Asked by one of the Kill Tony panelists if everybody in Estonia is as attractive as he is (he’s a blue-eyed blond), he said yes, because Estonians’ ancestors were raped by the best: Vikings! Germans! By contrast, British people are homely because their ancestors weren’t raped: “sometimes the Empire fights back too hard!” It’s not exactly correct history or good diplomacy, but it’s hilarious comedy. Then there’s his riff on Canada vs. America. I had thought that this was a totally worn-out comic premise, but Ari proved me wrong. Canada, he said, is “gay America.” It’s as if the two countries “had the same parents, but in the divorce Canada went to stay with Mom. She hugged him way too much. She kept giving him affirmations: Of course you can wear a skirt to school! Gender is a construct!” As for Americans, “you guys obviously stayed with Dad. He gave you a beer and a gun.” As for gender studies, Ari professed to be “upset that the U.S. doesn’t let trans people into the military. I say, let them die!” On the other hand, he added, “I can understand why you wouldn’t want them in your Army, because — let’s be honest — they have a history of switching sides.” In yet another set, Ari compared Austin, a fun city that has become the world capital of stand-up, to Seattle, where a “green-haired, low-energy chick” will lecture you about “American racism” — to which, he said, you want to reply: “If you don’t like America, go to Ukraine! Try to get an oatmeal latte in downtown Kiev, you ungrateful bitch! Give me your U.S. passport!” This brings us to his one running gag, which is about his desperate desire to secure a permanent U.S. residency before his work visa expires and his envy of people with U.S.  citizenship. After all, he explained, if you go missing on a U.S. passport, “you have Navy SEALs looking for you! They even exchanged Britney Griner for a terrorist so she could play for a made-up subsidiary league!” Hinchcliffe has dubbed Ari “the Estonian assassin” because more than any other guest on Kill Tony, he really does kill — and does so every time. After the loss of Gilbert, Norm, and company, I never thought a new comic would come along whose first hour special I’d look forward to as much as I do to Ari Matti’s. From a certain perspective it may be a shame that he’s not a homegrown superstar in the making, but I’d suggest he’s something even better: a foreigner who’s in America legally and who, when he eventually does acquire a U.S. passport, will be one of the country’s most loyal — and funniest — citizens. READ MORE from Bruce Bawer: Joan Didion, Mother Pumping Iron All Is Vanity The post The Estonian ‘Killer’ appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.