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Writer's pictureStand-Up Comedy Historian

Ted's Brunch Part 2: The Epic Pool Pic

Another fantastic Netflix Is A Joke Festival has concluded for the year and, with it, we have another incredible gathering of comedians to decipher.


Let's go!


First off—this new photo by Ted Sarandos' pool features not one but THREE of my favorite comics: Bo Burnham (duh), Demetri Martin, AND John Mulaney!

You can see Bo hiding behind a pillar next to Rachel Bloom with his face just peeking out and his hands on his knee—how very on brand for him! One clever Redditor named u/zacpariah has dubbed this pool shot as Where's Wald-Bo?, and I'm keen to agree.

Fun story: I saw low-res versions of this photo, and I was able to identify about half of the people in it, but I completely missed Bo's face! It wasn't until someone posted a high-res version on Bo's subreddit that I could see him lol.


Next, we have my favorite comic since I first became obsessed with stand-up, Demetri Martin! It's amazing to see him in the same shot with Bo because Demetri greatly influenced Bo's comedy (and yes, I will have a deep dive soon on that topic. Stay tuned!).


Why was Demetri there, you may ask? It's probably because he has a new phenomenal comedy special out on Netflix that is called Demetri Deconstructed. Be sure to check it out!

I also love that Demetri is wearing his cool leather jacket (he owns leather sleeves, remember?). I'm pretty sure I saw him don that exact same jacket at his Atlantic City performance right before the pandemic struck!

Finally, my third favorite comedian makes a memorable appearance once again: John Mulaney!

He has been on a hot streak since winning an Emmy for Baby J (which I had predicted would happen last July—sweet vindication!).

And most recently, John DOMINATED late night with his chaotic and beautiful show Everybody's in L.A. I definitely plan to review this brilliant program comprising six episodes of lunacy...plus George and Gil on Wednesday's installment with Weezer!

Okay! With my three faves out of the way, it's time to break down this MASSIVE group of famous and up-and-coming comedians (plus Red and Kitty from That 70's Show!).


Let's go!


(Shout-out to Redditor u/regnald for providing the most comprehensive list online. It made this post much easier for me! Haha)

The epic pool party attendees:


Left section, from left to right—

  • Hannah Gadsby

  • John Owen Lowe

  • Sheng Wang (awesome shades!)

  • Roy Wood Jr.

  • Nathan Fillion (not a comic that I know of, but a terrific actor and he did play a role on Big Mouth lol)

  • Rob Lowe

  • Atsuko Okatsuka (with her signature bowl haircut and pictured below with John)

  • Jimmy Carr

  • Ken Jeong

  • Lil Rel Howery

  • Erik Griffin

  • Pauly Shore

  • Moshe Kasher and Natasha Leggero (loved them both on Another Period, which I just rewatched recently with my boyfriend Jeff)

  • Jimmy O. Yang

Fun fact: Jimmy and Ken were photographed together at the last comedy brunch in 2022!

  • Ricky Velez

  • Nimesh Patel

  • Matt Friend

  • Iliza Schlesinger

  • Chelsea Handler

  • Felipe Esparza

  • Sebastian Maniscalco

  • Sarah Silverman (she called Bo a "genius" at one of their Largo shows)

  • Luenell (she made a big splash on Mulaney's show, cuddling under a white blanket with David Letterman lol)


Middle section, from left to right:

  • Sinbad (I knew he had had a stroke because of the Goofy Movie episode of Atlanta...very sad, but I'm glad he's still kicking it!)

  • Jim Gaffigan

  • Ralph Barbosa

  • Judd Apatow

  • Whitney Cummings

  • London Hughes

  • Tiffany Haddish

  • Kevin Hart (he looks so much older with the beard)

  • John Mulaney

  • Deon Cole

  • Bert Kreischer (shirtless as always)

  • Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith (they will ALWAYS be Kitty and Red Forman to me)

  • Lil Dicky

  • Tony Hinchcliffe

  • Nick Kroll (he was photographed with Bo at the first brunch and the two have been with Ted Sarandos before!)

  • Ted Sarandos (with his jeans in the water)

  • Richard Kind (my favorite announcer currently thanks to Everybody's in L.A.)


Right section, left to right:

  • Marsha Warfield (I haven't seen her since she was on Night Court)

  • half of Bo Burnham (classic Bo)

  • Jack McBrayer

  • Sarah Cooper

Fun fact: Bo and Sarah were in a CollegeHumor video together back in the day!


  • Ron Funches, rocking a Cosby sweater (LOVE him!)

  • Rachel Bloom

  • Lace Larrabee

  • Robbie Praw (VP of Stand-up and Comedy Formats at Netflix)

  • Heather McMahan

  • Leanne Morgan

  • Tone Bell

  • Dulcé Sloan

  • Hannah Berner

  • Tom Papa

  • Jon Stewart (his shocked reaction to Saymo the delivery bot was one of the best parts of Everybody's in L.A.)

  • Mo Welch

  • Mo Gilligan

  • Brett Goldstein (Roy from Ted Lasso)

  • Stavros Halkias

  • Demetri Martin

  • Dave Chappelle

  • Nikki Glaser

  • Wayne Federman (I still need to read his history of stand-up book—it's on my to-do list!)

  • Michael Yo

  • Ben O'Brien

  • Gary Dell'Abate (Baba Booey to Howard Stern fans)

  • Bela Bajaria (Chief Content Officer at Netflix)

  • Jeffrey Ross (I first saw him on Dr. Katz haha)

  • Nick Offerman (directed Bo as Chipp McCapp on Parks and Recreation)

  • Alex Moffat

  • Hasan Minhaj (appeared with Bo in Rough Night)

  • and last but not least, Ms. Pat in a fuchsia suit


Phew, that's a lot of people! By my count, that's 66 comedians gathered together in one place.


Finally, for those naysayers who claim the entire photoshoot didn't happen and was CGI or certain people were photoshopped in after the fact, attendee Matt Friend posted a short video clip on his Instagram showing the enormous crowd in action (It's the "Pool Pic" story on my Instagram account). It's truly thrilling to me as a comedy fan to see so many of my favorites gathered together.


Enjoy, and stay tuned for lots more comedy fun!



For more on the first Ted's Brunch, please click here.

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