Keep your shirt on, Bert Kreischer fans: Netflix has renewed the stand-up comedian’s sitcom Free Bert for a second season.
“We’re incredibly grateful to Netflix for believing in this show and giving us the chance to continue the freeing of Bert,” Free Bert showrunners and directors Jarrad Paul and Andy Mogel said in a joint statement on Monday. They created the series with Kreischer.
The first season of Free Bert followed Kreischer — the oft-shirtless comedian, party legend and “perpetual wildcard” — who finds himself in “uncharted territory when his daughters are accepted to an elite Beverly Hills private school,” per the synopsis. “When his unbridled antics turn his family into outcasts, he decides to ‘put on a shirt’ and stifle his true nature to better fit in.”
So, to summarize, the storyline went from no shirt, to… shirt. Got it.
In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, TV critic Daniel Fienberg wrote, “Although Free Bert is successful on some level, telling a neatly arced story over six half-hour episodes that resolve in a way I found strangely satisfying (still setting up a possible season two), it’s not especially funny.”
Fienberg called season one “uneven,” but conceded that “Kreischer is a reasonably good actor, or at least an actor with a lot of built-in intensity and general screen presence.”
Free Bert kicked off with some viewership success, debuting in the streamer’s Global Top 10 for the week it premiered in January 2026.
In addition to its title star, Free Bert is executive produced by the title star’s wife, LeeAnn Kreischer, as well as Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns, Elise Henderson and Judi Marmel. Free Bert films in Atlanta, as did/do Netflix’s Stranger Things, His & Hers, the upcoming ’Tis So Sweet, All the Sinners Bleed, Sweet Magnolias Season 5 and A Different World.
Netflix is all about stand-up comics, in large part due to co-CEO and former chief content officer Ted Sarandos’ love of the game. Kreischer already has five stand-up specials with Netflix and is returning to the stage for its Netflix Is a Joke Festival 2026. Bert served as a tailgate correspondent at the NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix and has made several special appearances on WWE Monday Night Raw; Kreischer will also make an appearance at Netflix’s MLB Opening Night. An explosion of synergy! (Or, rather: An explosion of synergy?)
At the upcoming Netflix Is a Joke fest, Kreischer will perform the “Bert and Shaq’s Crowd Work Show” at The Comedy Store on May 8 and host “2 Bears 5K” with Tom Segura and Jelly Roll at The Rose Bowl the following day.
