Adam Sandler honors ‘funniest guy of all time’ Chris Farley while filming Netflix special

It's been 22 years and a couple dozen movies since Adam Sandler made his lone, songs-stuffed TV comedy special, What the Hell Happened to Me? for HBO. Which has long begged the question from diehard fans, when the hell is he going to make another one?

The answer is, right now.

Camera crews were at Sandler's Riverside Theater show in Milwaukee Wednesday, and they'll be back again for an encore gig Thursday.

They're two of at least 10 performances being filmed this month for a new comedy special coming to Netflix, likely later this year. Between all the locations, and Sandler's scattershot, see-what-sticks approach Wednesday, it's obvious a lot of material won't make the final cut (although the jokes were generally better than the punchlines in Sandler's weaker movies).

There was one obvious keeper from Wednesday's show for the special: a moving new song honoring a friend Sandler called "by far the funniest guy of all time": Sandler's former Saturday Night Live co-star, Chris Farley.

Also clear: while it's been fourteen years since Sandler's last comedy album, he is still a sophomoric and silly comic, flowing Wednesday from droll quick-hit observations to surreal, stoner-suited narratives, with enough speed that jokes that fell flat were quickly followed by a fresh punchline.

Live, his goofy, short songs remain his signature. He performed at least two dozen new ones Wednesday, inspired by awkward airplane rides, shaving a beard and other mundanities. They were nearly all good for a chuckle, with a couple instant earworms likely to become fan favorites.

And at 51, married for nearly 15 years, and father of two daughters, Sandler's done a good deal of growing up too. That perspective has found its way into his new material, making Sandler more relatable than ever before.

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Here are seven of the best bits from Wednesday's show we hope we'll see in that Netflix special.

Parental panic attack: From quips about his awed commentary filming his kids' soccer game, to being irritated by their unruly friends on a bad play date, Sandler displayed the love and annoyance that comes with parenting. His best fatherly story resembled a pulse-quickening page-turner, recounting an anxious ride in a ski lift where one kid's struggling with a glove, another needs ChapStick, and they're all dangling 100 feet in the air. 

Love and marriage: Sandler modified the song Grow Old With You song from his movie The Wedding Singer to sweetly honor his wife, although he ribbed some past passive-aggressive tension with the song Eggshells. "I don't know what I could have done wrong because I literally just woke up," he sang. "I told her her hair looked good and somehow that made things worse." 

Bathroom humor: There was plenty of bathroom humor Wednesday, and literal bathroom humor in the form of song about Sandler being too lazy to urinate in the toilet while taking a shower. ("I have no respect for my family... I am an animal.... I am the destroyer.") Also crass, and amusing, was a rap song about a smelly Uber ride. ("He got that free water if you want that drink, drink/You know what else he got? That stink, stink."

Coyote ugly: Sandler was frequently eager to get to the next gag, but he took his time with an amusingly bizarre bit about rescuing a coyote's injured paw with epsom salt and forming a special bond that dissolves when the coyote drunk texts Sandler at 2:30 in the morning.

Chanukah Companion: Sandler's redone his signature tune The Chanukah Song a few times now, but now he's come up with another catchy ditty, Bar Mitzvah Boy, perfect for your next rite of passage playlist.

Schneider in Space: Frequent Sandler co-star Rob Schneider opened Wednesday's show, but he also made a guest appearance as a Russian astronaut singing an erotic duet with Sandler. 

Love for Farley: Accompanied by clips of Chris Farley's old sketches and family movies, Sandler's touching song captured the "one-man party" that was the late, larger-than-life comedy force, while also honoring Farley's softer side, as a man who always went to church on Sunday morning even when hungover, and who was once moved to tears listening to one of his father's favorite songs. "You still bring us so much joy," Sandler sang, and the crowd roared.

MORE SAMPLE JOKES

• (Commenting on a fan who was interrupting the show to yell at him) "It's like he walked out of my Thanksgiving dinner and came here."
• "My wife's grandma is 101 years old. She broke her hip recently and I felt really guilty, cause I'm the one who bought her the trampoline."
• "Marriage is great. You've got to keep the mystery alive. My wife has no idea where I go for weeks at a time. She knows I'm here. My kids don't. I told them I was going downstairs to get an apple."