Zoltan Kaszas: How a comedy special made me want to be a better father.

Zoltan Kaszas’ “Honorary Jones” took me down an unexpected emotional path while remaining at its core, silly and fun.

Zoltan has been a standing favorite of mine for several years now. I’ve had the pleasure of watching him perform in venues ranging from a humble DIY show hosted in a shopping center bar to headlining a full weekend at one of our larger local comedy clubs.

In that same time frame, he’s released several recordings ranging from professionally produced Dry Bar comedy specials to a handful of self-produced DIY comedy specials.

After roughly 18 years in the comedy game, Zoltan’s latest offering is a shining example of what happens when you spend almost two decades patiently perfecting your craft.

What is objectively his most beautifully designed and filmed special is also potentially his most well-rounded recorded performance.

In typical Zoltan fashion, he always feels easy and fun. He has a range of light-hearted material about the struggles of being a chill San Diegan who recently moved to New York City and other milder topics such as questioning the life expectancy and legitimacy of bomb-sniffing dogs.

However, it only takes a few minutes into the special to appreciate that he’s also skillfully blending in topics with more serious undertones. Bits such as the defeatist concept of recycling during a natural disaster, the unexpected timing of the world ending, or even just a newfound need to shoplift.

The longer I watch the special, the more I understand why Zoltan is standing out amongst so many other comics.

We are fortunate to currently be living in a comedy boom. The coalescing of multiple social media platforms and more affordable recording equipment have made it so that anyone performing stand-up comedy can record a set with nothing more than a cell phone and a Zoom recorder.

The main con of such a situation is that anyone performing comedy for a couple of years can feel empowered to record and release material regardless of the quality of their performance.

I keep hearing about the short attention spans of people. That we have to release content constantly to keep them engaged. While I’m watching Zoltan, I’m convinced that quite the opposite is true. The audience doesn’t have a short attention span, they just want to see things done well.

So many “specials” are released with rushed material that may be funny for a moment but, overall are released with lots of unnecessary filler. Certain skills only come from making small one-off mistakes or having small successes over decades of practice.

Comedy is one of those skills, and Zoltan’s special is a wonderful showcase of the difference between a pretty funny person who released a special because they needed content, and an extremely funny professional who released material because it was painstakingly sculpted to the artist’s high standards.

So, yikes, this article is maybe getting a little too serious and is attempting to be a TED Talk. It seems like a good time to tell you that my favorite segue during this special was “Don’t worry, I will explain the testicle.”

I’m well aware that at heart I am very immature and flawed and that I love the silliness that arises with those qualities. This balance of serious, flawed, and silly is probably why “Honorary Jones” resonates with me so well and why it will most likely resonate with so many others.

Throughout his performance, Zoltan leans into who he is instead of trying to convince us he’s any better than that. There’s no attempt to climb on a high horse and pretend he’s above anyone else. Instead, he is revealing his blemishes in full glory so that we might laugh.

This brings us to why this special was so impactful to me as a father. For better or worse, Zoltan’s father abandoned him as a young child causing Zoltan to find father figures in a unique variety of people.

The title “Honorary Jones” is a dedication to one of these unlikely father figures in Zoltan’s life.

Throughout the closing portion of Zoltan’s performance, he explains how this man had a deep impact on the success of his comedy career and his outlook on life. How small acts of kindness, love, and support from a father figure can help you develop character, drive, and work ethic.

I couldn’t believe it but, at this point in the special, I found myself being emotionally moved quite unexpectedly as I held back manly tears combined with laughter.

As the father of a 4-year-old boy, I found myself questioning what steps I needed to take as a father to become more like Mr. Jones. How do I need to adjust and grow as a man over the coming years to ensure that I can give love and support to my son in the same way that Mr. Jones did for Zoltan?

The emotional impact is even more startling when you remember that Mr. Jones is a violent, short-tempered, chain-smoking, tax-evading auto mechanic in desperate need of a heart transplant who worked with a stereotypical ass crack hanging out.

He’s certainly not the man I thought I would want to emulate for fatherly advice but, here we are.

Throughout Zoltan’s storytelling, he gives examples of how this man, flawed as he may be, showed unwavering support for a young kid with a comedy dream.

It’s such a beautiful example of how anyone is capable of being a positive influence on someone else, no matter how rough around the edges they may appear to be.

Is Zoltan funny? Absolutely. Is the special good? Of course, it is. By all objective standards, it is a wonderfully filmed special that should be taken as seriously as anything else in the top tier of comedy releases.

However, I’m not sure how long it will be until the next comedy special has such a large impact on me as a man and a father.

So, for me, it’s a fantastic comedy special.