sam gutelle of "tubefilter" said "had the apocalypse arrived that evening, we would’ve gone out laughing" stating that "john hodgman: ragnarok" "has enough content beyond simple stand-up to make it worth checking out." aaron frank of "the village voice" ranked "john hodgman: ragnarok" "#9" in their list of "top 10 stand-up comedy specials of 2013." frank praised that hodgman's "elegant command of language is particularly unmatched in the comedy world" but critiqued "the theme seems to limit the scope of material presented, and having seen hodgman a couple times since "ragnarok" was taped, i can say with certainty that he has some better jokes up his sleeve for the future."