Standup can be revelatory, poignant, powerful, take you on a rollercoaster of emotions, make you feel uniquely and genuinely seen, and can make a political point clearer than the most academic white paper from the most high-profile think tank. The Goddamn Comedy Jam is and does none of those things because it is too busy being the funnest comedy show in existence.

For the uninitiated, the Goddamn Comedy Jam was created and is hosted by the charismatic former strip club DJ (yes, seriously) and current standup comic, Josh Adam Meyers, not to be confused with Seth Meyers’ younger brother, and involves Meyers starting the show doing standup and singing songs you love, followed by a series of comedians (typically 3-4), each coming up to do a 5-10 minute set, talk about why a song matters to them, and then perform that song live with the Goddamn Comedy Jam band and Josh Adam Meyers bailing them out on vocals if they flub the words or just suck at singing.

Everyone is having a blast, the audience is singing along, and comedians get to pretend they are rockstars.

It’s the only standup show where standing up as an audience member feels appropriate and it’s terribly fun. My first and only time attending a Goddamn Comedy Jam show was in July 2015 at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, a show featuring Bill Burr, Kyle Kinane, and Brent Morin. This was just one year into the Jam’s existence. (Meyers started it in July 2014). The show was divine; perfectly paced, we sat in the front row feet away from the comics in a small club, we got to spend adequate time with each comedian, Bill Burr wore a blonde wig and played Paradise City on drums, and we had the time of our lives.

It should come as no surprise that when I saw that the Jam was going to be headed to DC, where all of my best friends live, that I jumped at the chance to fly out for my first vacation post two kids.

I took four friends along to the Jam at the 9:30 club and we arrived early, around 7:00, getting seats in the second row. As fun as it was and as much as the DC Improv deserves an anniversary celebration, this version of the Jam was bogged down by being a celebration of the DC Improv. There were 6-8 comics and it left me longing for a regular version of the Goddamn Comedy Jam where you just get deeper, intimate time with three comics.

The first hour was just fluff. DJ Cipha was on stage and it was like spring break level DJing with air horns randomly blaring and other silly things. It felt like there should have been jello shots. We found it easy to make fun of. The first hour of comedians were regulars at the DC Improv, which obviously makes sense since this was a celebration of that club, but only one was hilarious (the first on stage, who joked about having big breasts and only wanting to date girls with smart A and B breasts) and some were just bad. One guy actually caused the audience to audibly exclaim “aw” repeatedly as his entire set was pretty much just about how much he loves his wife. I love that the DC Improv gave their regulars the chance to preform at the 9:30 Club and be part of this celebration but it just made the show so damn long.

I kept whispering to my friends that the show doesn’t start until Josh Adam Meyers gets on stage and that didn’t happen until 9:00. I don’t mean to make it painfully obvious that I am in my mid 30s but that is fricken late for a Monday night.

The show finally kicked off with Josh Adam Meyers, of course, singing Journey, pretending not to know the words and replacing them with hilarious lines about going to the podiatrist. It’s a common Jam (short for both Josh Adam Meyers and Goddamn Comedy Jam) trick and it doesn’t get old.

Meyers rocks at getting the energy going and setting the tone for the show. He’s probably the most energetic comedian I have ever seen, he has a great voice for this show, and I really can’t imagine anyone else hosting it. Meyers is very interactive with the audience. He brought up a guy wearing socks and sandals in the front row on stage, asked him questions and had him sing his answers in the microphone (“Do you have a girlfriend,” audience member answer: “what do you think?”), and promptly named him “Chunky McGillicuddy” and had the entire audience sing “Chunky McGillicuddy” repeatedly.

Next up was surprise guest Donnell Rawlings, who panicked seeing all of the white faces and did a last minute change of his song to Born in the USA, explaining that white people love this song. I felt secondary annoyance as I watched Meyers squirm at the change, knowing that the band probably hadn’t rehearsed this song. Of course, Rawlings wasn’t wrong. White people do love Born in the USA and this crowd of whites was no exception. JAM was able to convince Donnell to do his original song and us whites enjoyed that one too!

This version of the Jam suffered from a lack of a true headliner. This was even harder for me because I am 90% sure that Chappelle promised he’d be there and backed out. At the DC Improv on Saturday, Josh Adam Meyers told us that the Jam on Monday was going to be a great show and “THE comedian from DC, you know the one” is going to be there. If he wasn’t referring to Chappelle, I can’t imagine who he was referring to. It also would have made logical sense given that Chappelle was the very first comedian to ever appear on the DC Improv stage.

We also saw Tiffany Haddish hanging out in the hallway after Josh Adam Meyers’s Saturday standup show so her absence was a bummer. And Tony Rock and Adam Ray, who appeared on the poster, didn’t show either. Poor Josh Adam Meyers. I imagine he was pretty unhappy with that. Fortunately, very few people knew Chappelle was supposed to be there.

I was most excited to see Jessica Kirson. I adore her and have never been able to see her live. She had a hilarious set, talking about how she is raising her kids gay and trying to get everyone else’s kids too. My only issue with it is that this material just aired on Netflix as part of Bill Burr’s Friends Who Kill show. Rachel Feinstein’s material was the exact same story. Great bit but she did it at the Amy Schumer Netflix is a joke show. These were both really funny sets from comedians I enjoy but I do think the best practice is once material airs on TV to never do it again.

I loved that Jessica Kirson did a bunch of material about being gay and then sang “It’s Raining Men.” This is the perfect example of the rare kind of delightful experience you can only ever get at a Goddamn Comedy Jam show.

I had also never seen Steve Byrne and Christian Finnegan before and enjoyed their sets. Steve Byrne did an energetic Mr. Brightside with Meyers and Christian Finnegan talked about getting heart surgery and getting through it with New Radicals Get What You Give. I had forgotten about that delightful one hit one wonder of a song and enjoyed pretending I knew the words. Another new experience was seeing a candidate for mayor, Red Grant, who is also a comedian perform. I can’t help but think the world would be a better place if we had more comics in political office.

The show closed with all of the comics coming on stage and doing a few songs together, ending with Teen Spirit. Above all, I loved seeing comics having fun together on stage. Jessica Kirson and Rachel Feinstein were twerking into each other. Everyone was talking, smiling, and jumping. Comics spend so much time on the road individually headlining, you can tell what a joy it is for them when they get to hang out together.

The Jam was fun but there were just too many cooks in the kitchen, no true headliner, Chappelle’s absence was notable, and it was too long and full of fluff.

Still, I love the Jam as a show and can’t wait to see a more traditional, streamlined version of it in Cancun in November. Just don’t go when the Jam is celebrating something!