If you’ve seen a Comedy Central Roast from the last ten years, you are already a little familiar with Greg Giraldo’s work. To date, he has been on all but one of these roasts, appearing more than any other performer. In order to keep being invited back means a few things. First, he has the respect of his peers. Second, he knows how to make fun of people. And third, he’s funny. They never invite back hated comedians who can’t tell a joke worth squat (Dane Cook and Carrot Top have each appeared only once). It’s no fluke that he’s funny at the roasts. Greg Giraldo is a funny man.
He is one of the top comedians today who delves into the issues of current events. From beginning to end his set is chalk full of commentary on news stories, political scandals, and public stupidity. In a previous review I gave comedian David Cross very low marks because his jokes were taking current events and making them even more depressing for the audience. Very few people want to hear that. Greg Giraldo does the exact opposite. He takes these stories that make people want to rip their hair out for and makes them funny, which is no easy feat.
Good Day to Cross the River has jokes ranging from dozens of topics. Almost all of them are very relevant to today, or rather, 2006, when the CD debuted. Giraldo quickly goes from one premise to another in such a very fluid style that most listeners probably don’t realize that he’s gone from talking about SUVs to burning genitals in less than three and a half minutes. He uses clever analogies and deprecating humor to get the most out of his jokes. However, as is the case with most deprecating humor, there will always be a good amount of shock value, jokes that use profanity to merely shock the audience into laughing. It’s hilarious, but it doesn’t have any substance. Not all profanity in stand-up is for shock value, far from it, and most of the profanity in Giraldo’s set isn’t either, but it is still present in his set.
This album does not have too many gut busters in it, but it is incredibly consistent in getting laughs in every track, which makes it hard in picking best and worst tracks. The boring segments are not too long, and are often rewarded with a good laugh. If you are into comedians like Lewis Black or Patton Oswalt, whose sets are dependent on news stories, you will probably like this album. He’s funny, without being offensive, and he can turn a depressing topic into a funny bit.
Worst Tracks: Room for Dessert/Death by Chocolate/Lent/Snacks, Katrina Best Tracks: Dyslexic Luger/Civil War Letters/Kids/Baby in River, Terrorism
I challenge you to think of ANY period in world history and I bet Eddie Izzard could make it hilarious. Eddie Izzard isn’t quite a household name in the US yet, despite his unbelievable success in England. In British television station’s poll, he ranked in the top 5 comedians of all time. Though he is most recognized for being a transvestite, Izzard is no gimmick. His sets consistently tackle issues of history and religion. From the small quirks to the big disasters, he can find a laugh in any joke he tells.
His style is very unique. He has no set routine before he goes out on stage. Typically, a comedian has everything planned out (first I’m going to do a joke about the grocery story, transition to fat people, then go on to make fun of the South…), but Izzard, though his jokes are prepared, does not have everything in order. His set is entirely stream-of-conscious, which has a few effects on his delivery. First, because he does not know what joke to jump to from time to time, you’ll hear a lot of “So yeah…” fillers followed quickly by the new premise. Second, in the middle of a joke, he’ll go on a long tangent based on something he said. These can be a single sentence to an entire track. These tangents are so well done, that when he returns to the joke he was initially telling, the audience is completely oblivious to the fact that it was even a tangent at all. They just expect that to be the natural stream of the joke.
Izzard also likes to poke fun at Americans, either by impersonating our unnecessary profanity, or criticizing our lack of interest in other countries’ affairs. For example, after joking about Northern Ireland for about 15 seconds to a silent American audience, Izzard exclaims “do you know there’s other countries?” And on that note, I present my first review for a comedian born outside of North America, Eddie Izzard’s 6th album, Circle.
“The Pope…what’s going on there, eh?”
It takes Eddie less than three minutes to start making jokes about religion and history, starting light at making fun of the Popes’ names and then moving on to the Crusades. He pokes fun out how petty the reasons for fighting were and how most of the conflicts were just differences of perspective. The set veers off to jokes about Jesus and how He plays a role in most major religions.
Side tangent about Americans and baseball. Yes, it oddly enough makes sense in context.
Back to religion! Eddie has a long bit about the role of Dinosaurs in Christianity. He ponders their absence in the Bible and recreates a scene in which Jesus goes down to preach His Father’s word to them the same way Christians believe He did for humans; it’s very reminiscent to Bill Cosby’s Noah jokes. From the conversations between Jesus and God to Jesus ad-libbing the beatitudes, the joke is a hit, and Mr. Cosby would be proud.
“It’s a fucking weaving joke…”
From there the album turns more towards more mundane topics, like seals being handy with balls to inventions of weaving tools, which even he can’t help but groan at. The jokes are entertaining, but nothing spectacular.
And now, the set turns towards his expertise: History. He gives brief highlights of history from the Roman Empire through the Dark Ages ending with World War II. Izzard makes fun of several figures in history, both big and small, and each joke is hilarious. He chooses WWII to make the most fun of Americans’ ignorance, primarily talking about Saving Private Ryan and how the movie completely ignores any foreign aid given in the war (“what’s the name for us? Oh yes, the ALLIES!”).
“Dad, don’t worry, nobody’s going to work it out for 2000 years until the transvestite points it out in New York”
Back to Religion! In the same light as the Dinosaur joke, Izzard jokes about God sending Jesus down as man. He performs it as if Jesus is recapping everything He did to God as if God wasn’t aware of what happened. God doesn’t seem too pleased with a few things Jesus tells the people. The joke puts Jesus’ words and messages in a new light. It’s nothing blasphemous (though Izzard’s certainly not afraid of such thing), and incredibly entertaining.
Finally, one of my favorite bits of his ends the album. Ever wonder how everybody on the Death Star in Star Wars eats? Izzard did, and he has a whole track dedicated to the Death Star Canteen. The whole joke is a dialogue between Darth Vader and a cashier in the cafeteria. A brilliant, original joke acted out perfectly.
This album puts more emphasis on religion and less on history than most of Izzard’s work, which is a little disappointing considering how great he can be with historical jokes. Nonetheless, the CD is filled with great, original material that is perfectly timed and executed. The only reasons I can imagine somebody not liking this are Izzard’s British mumbling, which is rare but present, and if somebody is touchy to topics of religion. He doesn’t hit it as hard as say David Cross, and he does make a point to have jokes about all major religions, but there is material that Christians MAY be offended at. Extreme emphasis on the “may”. Regardless, it’s a great album that I recommend to all.
Worst tracks: Mad European Cows, Hatred and Sharks Best Tracks: Jesus and Man, Death Star Canteen
Redd Foxx is an icon of comedy. He helped pave the way for two groups of comedians: African Americans, and comedians who joke about sex(Eddie Murphy thanked him by paying for his lavish funeral bill when his widow couldn't so that he would have a proper send-off). His set is known for being very raunchy and inappropriate for children to listen to. In fact, for a long time his records were not even sold in white record stores because they were too dirty. But eventually his stand-up landed him the famous role that most remember him for: Fred Sanford on Sanford and Son. During his very long career, he put out a whopping 54 albums, Sly Sex being one of the middle ones.
Now, it is difficult to find too much information on his album. Some comedy sites don't even list it in his discography, and the rest only give a year and album cover, if anything. After listening to it, I can tell why.
The problem with recording over fifty albums is that it doesn't give the comedian enough time to come up with quality material. In 1960 alone he released 9 albums, more than Chris Rock and Steve Martin recorded in their entire careers...combined. Today, comedians usually take at least a year or two between releases, between which they are touring and testing out their new material. Now, I know that if you took all of Foxx's albums, and took the best three hours of all of them, you'd have three amazing CDs, but grouped as they are, it's much more difficult to find a gem.
Foxx's material in Sly Sex is just poor. They sound like bad jokes you hear from your grandfather or read in a joke book. They aren't addressing any issues, they aren't mocking any aspect of life, they aren't particularly witty. They're just fluff. Some of it is dirty fluff, but fluff nonetheless.
Now like I said, he had an impossible task of coming up with material in a very short time. I don't know the specifics of his contract with Dooto Records or whether it was his choice or theirs, but it ruined the album, that's for sure.
Besides the bad material, Foxx is definitely playing in a very small venue. Sometimes this can be a great thing for a comedian. It gives them a more intimate setting where their jokes can have a greater effect. Except in this case, you can identify everybody's laughs and can hear their comments to him very clearly. It may have helped Redd out, but for the listening audience, it completely takes away from the act, especially as they laugh to very poor jokes.
Also, as with the case with most old comedy albums, the track's are not neatly cut up and titled, so Sly Sex consists of Side 1, and Side 2. With this one, I'm not even going to try to tell which is better and which is worse. They're both terrible.
Norm MacDonald first hit national spotlight when he was a cast member of Saturday Night Live in the 1990's. He anchored the Weekend Update for a few years, becoming one of the fans' favorite anchors in the shows amazing tenure. Along with his writing and acting, Norm also performs stand up comedy (go figure) and has the honor of making Comedy Central's top 100 comedians of all time (as have five of the other comedians I've reviewed), and is a popular name in numerous comedy cliques.
His style is very unique, in that, not only is he not afraid to bomb, he will do it intentionally. For example, on the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget, Norm told overly cheesy, stupid jokes that barely made fun of Saget. This contrasted the usual roast so well that most of the audience and viewers at home were cringing at how poorly he was doing. But if you watch the comedians on the side listening, you'll notice that they're laughing harder at Norm's material than anybody else's, because they know exactly what he's doing, and they get a kick out of it. He'll even perform cheesy old jokes on talk shows for the same purpose. Conan O'Brien has noted that Norm is one of his favorite guests.
I'm sure you're thinking, "Why the hell isn't Joe talking about the CD at all? We want to hear about his stand-up in this CD!" Hold your horses, folks. Despite Norm's famed and noteworthy career, he has but one album to offer his fans, Ridiculous, and it's not even a stand-up album. Instead, Norm comprises his CD of sketches similar to what he would write or perform on SNL. He even uses some of his former cast-members for the parts (Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, and Tim Meadows to name a few). So this review won't be talking about his stand-up, but more his writing.
Norm starts off with a parody of the Fantastic Four, making fun of their super identities' names. He plays a Mr. Fantastic who cannot comprehend why the other members of the group have any problem with his egotistical name. The punchlines are set up incredibly well, and Norm's timing and acting are superb as he delivers them. Starting with the first funny line through the end of the track, he gives line after line of funny material.
Following this track is a long one about a country music legend who is coming out of years of hiding to produce a new album. Slowly, the producers realize that their beloved legend is now gay...very gay. Panic ensues as they try to think of ways to cover it up. The jokes in this track are good, but not quick enough. It's a 19 minute long track that could have been shorted to 12, and there's just too much time between funny lines. Like I said, the jokes are good, but audiences have to go through a lot of waiting to get to them.
Next is the first of two three-track jokes. I'll go through the three tracks in this paragraph to simplify things. It revolves around a sportscaster (Norm) who has clearly bet a lot of money on the outcome of the football game he is announcing. From kickoff, to half-time, to the two minute warning (the three tracks), he's concerned about his quarterback's potentially debilitating disease and how it will affect his wager. Good jokes, good set ups, good tracks.
The other three-track joke is probably his best set of the CD. The subject: The first two men to discover gay sex. Right away you know the set can be either brilliant or horrendous. For it, Norm calls on the comedy talent of Will Ferrell, who will do anything for a laugh, in a good way (see his SNL sketch wearing patriotic short shorts for proof). Him and Norm play two dudes who realize that they love sex, but don't currently have any women present, and have to find some sort of solution to their dilemma at hand. Ferrell goes ALL out to make these tracks an absolute gut-buster. While Norm is also excellent as the straight man (for lack of a better term), credit for these tracks goes mostly to Will. These three tracks are evenly dispersed on the CD, which creates a great flow of laughs, as they create very few long pauses of comedy. Well done, Norm.
There are a few more sketches thrown in on the CD, but nothing too notable, unless you have a fetish for Molly Shannon talking dirty. Norm does, at the end, play one of his older stand-up bits about Star Search. Sorry, I guess my earlier comment that this was not a stand up CD was slightly off. It's not particularly a great bit, but it does give the audience a good glimpse of Norm's style and stage presence.
Overall, this CD is very funny, with mostly clean humor, though the parts of it that aren't clean, can be quite raunchy. Like I've said repeatedly, don't go into this expecting stand-up. Some of the tracks can be a bit slow, but they are mostly for the purpose of setting up punchlines, as each new track brings about a completely different joke, no transitions like most good stand-up has. If you like Norm MacDonald, you will probably like this CD, but if you've listened to him and you just don't get him, this may not be the best album for you, though I think it's still worth a listen.
Worst Tracks: Tex Hooper, Burning Bed Best Tracks: [World's First Two Gay Guys, A Wonderful Afternoon Gone Awry, Do You Want A Sandwich Or Anything?], Fantastic Four
Before there was Richard Pryor, before there was Bill Cosby, there was Dick Gregory. A leading pioneer in African American stand-up comedy, Gregory was more than jokes, he was social justice. He was one of the first comedians to perform for both white and black audiences and used his microphone and satire to help advance the civil rights movement. In Living Black and White was the first of 12 albums he released in a 14 year span. Fortunately for the comedy world, he started off on the right foot.
Something I found interesting about this CD which I have yet to encounter with any other album, is that there are breaks between each track with commentary. Scripted, and sounding like an old radio broadcast, a voice comes on introducing each new joke. They are short segues, however they seem to take away from the natural flow of a set. I plan on looking into this further when I get the chance. Now to the jokes
Gregory starts off by talking about how he's always being compared to white comedians like Mort Sahl and Bob Newhart. Right off the bat, Gregory's jokes deal with the dichotomy of the world, by narrowing in on the dichotomy of the comedy world. He goes on to comment on the evolution of stand-up comedy, and how it takes a lot more to get the same amount of laughs. He demonstrates this by telling a joke that would be told 20 years ago (or, in our case, 70 years ago) and pointing out how unfunny it is. His audience's silence shows their accord. Then he retells the same joke with a different, better punchline that draws a much better reaction from the crowd. This joke resonates even today. Most audiences today, especially the younger ones, could listen to Lenny Bruce or Bob Hope and not think it's nearly as funny as audiences did back then. A very original joke premise that I have not heard from any other comedian.
Next Gregory jokes about being black in the South, citing one incident where he accidentally stumbled into a restaurant that didn't want him in it. A controversial subject for any audience becomes a big laugh for everybody. This led to a series of political, current event jokes, mostly dealing with the election of Kennedy and the departure of Eisenhower. Political jokes are generally pretty good for laughs, and Gregory's are no exception. One topic he likes to joke about is African American voting, especially the political machine of Chicago rigging the elections, "we're trying to make up for the times we couldn't vote"
Staying in the realm of current events, his material turns to the Cold War and, particularly, the race to space. He makes a topic of heavy turmoil and caution a laughable subject by mocking both are concern over losing the race as well as lightly poking fun of the Soviets.
Following these are a few more less than memorable (though still enjoyable) jokes dealing with marriage, the Israeli-Palestinian debacle, and various employment opportunities. No gut busters, but several very amusing jokes. The last track, however, had the biggest laugh of the CD, at least for me, when he talks about being in a bad situation in an airplane. A well constructed set up, and a punchline that surprises any audience. The best joke on the CD.
If you're a real fan of comedy, this CD is a must have for its contribution and inspiration for the art of stand-up. But like I said earlier, much of today's audience won't get the same kind of kick out of the jokes as listeners did in 1961. Though I still recommend it to anybody. I think it would even hold merit being taught in an American history course, because of it's material concerning racial tension in the South and the Cold War.
Worst tracks: 100 Proof, Middle East Best Tracks: 50,000 ft-and No Insurance, Comedian of the 60's
This is my first review from an album made post-2006. I first heard about it when I was reading a list of albums Comedy Central Records had produced. I saw this and saw it was around such names as Joe Rogan, Lewis Black, and Daniel Tosh in the list of albums made this year. He's certainly not in bad company. After realizing how far behind I was on my more recent comedy purchases, I picked up a couple of newer albums, this being one of them. A mostly unknown comedian, he has slowly risen through the ranks as both an actor and stand-up, appearing in Knocked Up and Unaccompanied Minors and coming out with a CD and Comedy Central web-series. Needless to say, I was intrigued to see how good this album would be.
The first ten minutes of the album are hysterical. He throws out several one liners and very short anecdotes to the tune of him playing guitar, very reminiscent of Demetri Martin or Zach Galifianakis. Like Martin, he switches around common phrases or words to make them into a joke. And like Galifianakis, he throws out potentially very awkward social scenes and ends with out he would react if he were in those circumstances.
After a few tracks of these, his set turns more towards long-form jokes, starting with a joke centered around following a stoned friend around and recording his actions. Hilarious situation with hilarious punchlines. The following singing tracks aren't really songs, as much as Thune telling long-formed jokes to a rhythm of guitar while occasionally singing out a line here or there. There aren't many gut-busting lines here, but they are nevertheless very amusing throughout, and they keep the audience entertained (mostly).
The last five tracks of the album are devoted entirely to singing jokes. These aren't the same as the previous singing jokes, because in these, Thune is legitimately singing, not just talking to melody. Typically, I don't like singing comedians, because they just seem so gimmicky and cheap. Thune is no exception. These tracks are a bore and I really wouldn't have missed anything if I had just ended the CD before they started. I understand the creativity in them, but honestly, if you have funny material, and you can tell jokes (which he clearly can judging by the earlier portion of the CD), then just find a way to work them into your regular set. There's no need to show your musical talent while the audience is sitting there wanting to laugh (most of these final tracks are studio-recorded, but still).
Nick Thune got the crowd into it quick, but slowly lost them; a better organized set would do wonders for him. Throwing long-form jokes in with the one liners prolongs the audiences attention span. He has a lot of great material, he just needs to figure out how to use it better.
Worst tracks: Red Bull Decaf, Backflip (in addition to all the singing tracks) Best tracks: Weed Timeline, I Don't Care
George Lopez is the prominent Latino comedian in today’s stand-up circle.Influenced by Hispanic comedians like Cheech and Chong and Fredde Prinze, the torch of the Latino-American has been unofficially passed to him (though Carlos Mencia keeps trying to steal it), and he accepts the responsibility.He has done many great things to help the Latino community, and his community as a whole through his philanthropic efforts.He even tries to bring as much diversity in entertainment through his television shows.It’s no surprise that his sets are centered around his heritage.
From his first joke to his last, he essentially just talks about one thing: being Mexican-American.He delves into numerous aspects of growing up in such a household, from being raised poor, to family “vacations” to Mexico, to anticlimactic birthdays, Lopez gives the audience a very clear idea of what his childhood was like.
However, Lopez’s biggest demographic is his own, and it’s clear that much of his audience already seems familiar with the situations he describes.I listened to one of his jokes with a friend of mine (both of us are white), and there were parts that we didn’t quite get, but the audience was hysterical.Throughout his CD, Lopez will throw in some Spanish sentences (mostly imitating one of his family members/friends) that will go over the head of any non-Spanish speaker.I can only assume that they’re funny, since the audience is eating it up.Though, to be honest, even if you only know a little bit of Spanish, you can piece together what he says, add the context of the joke, and have a good idea of what he’s saying.Some people don’t like to think that much when they listen to comedy, but the parts I was able to piece together were entertaining.
When he’s describing life as a poor Mexican-American, he is sure to compare his lifestyle with the typical suburban white family.This seems like it would be instinctive, but there are plenty of comedians who joke about their own culture/background without comparing it to the larger demographic, and it hurts the set (Dat Phan comes to mind).He does a good job painting the picture and showing the contrast, but I have to say, I cannot stand his white-person voice.Everybody knows what I’m talking about; most minority comedians have a distinct voice that they use to refer to white people (white comedians Daniel Tosh and Mike Birbiglia even have jokes about it).Dave Chappelle’s sounds like a news anchor, Carlos Mencia’s sounds like a southerner, and George Lopez’s sounds like a valley girl.It’s not offensive, it just gets a little annoying after a while.Minor criticism, nothing deal-breaking.
One thing that Lopez does very well is set up a foundation for his jokes.I’m not referring to the set-up for a punch-line, I mean setting up jokes in the future.Latino idiosyncrasies that he jokes about in the beginning of the CD keep coming up again and again in the later tracks.He does this so well that regardless of how good a punch-line is towards the 15th, 16th, 17th track, he makes it instantly funnier by adding a quick quip from an old joke.It helps build for later jokes, and aids the jokes that aren’t particularly strong on their own.The end result is a very consistent stream of comedy.
My biggest criticism for this CD is that Lopez never veers away from his main premise.A great comedian is able to joke about a wide variety of topics and their wide variety of subtopics.Right Now Right Now only deals with many subcategories of the same subject: life as a Mexican-American.Yes, his jokes on this subject are quite good, and there is a lot of material in it, but half-way through the CD, I was hoping he’d move on to something else; he needed to shake things up.As mixed up as it sounds, it’s easier for an audience to stay with you when you make a few turnsthan when you just go straight.
To sum everything up, what would make this an excellent CD is his layered material and his consistency of quality jokes.What would make this CD poor is its one-trick-pony tendency and its limitations on a larger demographic.Overall, a quality CD that’s good for laughs.
Worst Tracks: Holmes Depot, Original Factory Color
You might be a redneck if you had a failing sitcom costarring Haley Joel Osment. You might be a redneck if you helped form one of the biggest powerhouse teams in comedy history. You might be a redneck if you've sold 15 million comedy albums. If your comedy sales are more than twice that of Richard Pryor and Steve Martin combined, you might be a redneck. Jeff Foxworthy flat out knows how to make people laugh. He is a pioneer for southern-based stand-up comedians like Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy (a group aptly named the Blue Collar Comedy Group). Do all of these records make him the best ever? I don't think so. The same reason Nascar isn't the best sport, yet most popular in the United States. But just because he's not the best, it doesn't mean he hasn't deserved an incredible amount of respect for his work in stand-up. His fame all started with You Might Be A Redneck If, a CD that went multiplatinum (not too bad for your first album).
The CD starts off with a bit that has garnered Foxworthy quite a bit of fame. His first joke deals with Southern words and dialects. He lists off several terms that one would hear a Southerner say, and makes fun of the absurdity of them. None of them are actual words, but in fact a conjunction of words that are mashed together and spoken with a Southern twang ("y'all" would be the most common I can think of, but Foxworthy goes much deeper than this simple example).
Then the joke that has made him oh so famous, You Might Be A Redneck If... Probably the most famous comedy catchphrase of all time, surpassing Steve Martin's "Excuuuuuuuuse me!" and Rodney Dangerfield's "No respect!" (or a variant thereof). Foxworthy throws out redneck joke after redneck joke, each one leaving the audience rolling. They aren't deep, they aren't profound, they're just fun, a statement that sums up Jeff Foxworthy. But considering how this one track launched such a career, it's surprising how its less than three minutes long. He has even said that most of his comedy comes from the differences between men and women, people just love the redneck jokes the most. And he's right. Over sixteen minutes of this album are dedicated to tracks dealing with relationships.
He talks about being a father, particularly of fathering babies. From changing diapers to parents talking about how brilliant their children are, these jokes are overall amusing, with an occasional gut-busting line here and there. Oddly enough, he goes from these jokes to jokes about being single, and all the excitement and trouble it causes. Foxworthy contrasts the differences between single guys telling sex stories to married men telling sex stories. Like I said, funny, but not entirely ground-breaking material.
On the longest track of the CD, Foxworthy covers a wide variety of related topics. From weddings, to road trips with family, to general husband-wife oddities, his material is not exclusive to Southern tendencies, but instead it's more inclusive to most married couples. One of his favorite jokes (which has found variations on other CDs and specials) deals with wives asking dangerous questions, and the traps they create for men. All of these relationship jokes are his real specialty, and he does them very, very well.
Jeff Foxworthy is a comedian with very run-of-the-mill deliveries. He tells good jokes filled with some great lines that relate to a wide assortment of people, both from the Bible belt and otherwise (though it's no secret that his biggest draw comes from the South). If you're looking for an act that leaves you pondering the society we live in, he's not the comedian for you. If you're looking for a stand-up that entertains on a more superficial level with every day situations, you might be a fan of Jeff Foxworthy.
Worst Track: Words in the South Best Track: I Love Being Married
If one man truly personifies the genre of stand-up comedy, it's George Carlin. A master of the English language, a rebel of social norms, and a man who was honest through and through. Towards the beginning of his career he entertained audiences with simple word play and common social commentary. As he got older, he kept up with the witty repartee and critiques, but his set grew more and more towards harsh ridiculing government and religion, which is where he probably has gained the most fame. This CD is a good juxtaposition of these two areas of interest. It also has one of the most famous tracks of comedy history. I present my judgment of George Carlin: Class Clown.
For one of the sharpest men in comedy history, this CD starts off with jokes that cross between Larry the Cable and a bad Jerry Seinfeld bit. He talks about class clowns in grade school (hey! That's the name of the CD!) which is a topic full of material, but the track turns into Carlin making fart sounds and other bodily music. Granted, he has some great lines of commentary in the mix. It's certainly not all just fart and poop jokes, but it's very far from any sort of ground-breaking comedy and much closer to silly shock-value humor.
The CD then starts slowing gaining momentum. For the next couple of tracks, Carlin takes aim at Catholicism, particularly, Catholic middle school customs. What he has to say about this subject is brilliant. He basically covers all religious aspects of a Catholic grade school. Anybody who went to one will no doubt be able to relate to almost every single thing he talks about, particularly his jokes about priests and confession.
**Please note that Carlin avoids making jokes about priests seducing little boys. It's one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to comedy. No, it's not because I think it's inappropriate or offensive, it's just so damn old. I hate basically all Michael Jackson jokes for the same reason. When a joke is just too easy to make, it doesn't need to be said. Sorry, little side rant. This is just the first time it seems to be relevant in my blogging. Back to the topic at hand!
After many jokes, it's easy for the audience to see why Carlin is such an atheist. Though he's not harsh in his criticisms, he does seem to have good reason behind how he feels. Don't worry, Christians, he won't make you question your faith. These jokes just point out the aspects of life that some people (myself included) experience, but tells them in a way that makes everybody laugh. All of you know how hard it is to tell a you-had-to-be-there story. That's basically what Carlin did, and he did it spectacularly.
Fun fun fun, laugh laugh laugh, now Carlin has set up the audience for the grand daddy of all jokes: Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television. These seven words make up a list that Carlin comprised of words that, well, can never be said on television. It was not an official list, though at the time nobody could argue that any of them were ever said on the air. These words, for those of you who don't know, are shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cock sucker, mother fucker, and tits.
One by one, Carlin takes each word/term and makes fun of them. He says whether he downright disagrees with their presence on the list ("tits doesn't even belong on the list!"), why some of them are taboo ("piss" and "cunt"), and why some of them make some sense ("cocksucker" and "motherfucker"). Note, I said "SOME sense". Every bit of it is hilarious.
But this is probably not the funniest track in stand-up history. Why then, you may wonder, do I hold it in such high ranks? Stand-up comedy is supposed to have some sort of message. It doesn't have to be some sort of ground-breaking revelation, but they should have something to say. Why was Gallagher a somewhat respected comedian while Carrot Top is considered a hack? They both use props for jokes, so they're the same, right? Wrong. Gallagher's act was not just playing with props, there was underlying commentary on American consumer culture. Carrot Top's act is putting two things together and try to make it semi-relevant to current events. One's on the list of 100 greatest comedians, and one's stuck doing shows in Vegas.
The point is, stand-up is more than laughs, it's also purpose. This joke's purpose was to bash censorship on American airwaves. Did it do it? A resounding YES. "So what?", you might ask. "It's just a joke", you might say. See, now this is where it's extra special. This one bit, a bit about 7 words, made it to the Supreme Court of the United States. A JOKE indirectly established the extent to which the federal government could regulate speech on broadcast television and radio in the United States. This joke is funny, this joke has a message, and this joke changed the fucking law on censorship. Did it do what Carlin wanted? No, Carlin would want all censorship removed. But that's besides the point. The point is, he was heard.
A perfect end to a CD.
Alright, I've basked in this joke long enough. You get it, I love it. This CD is classic, despite it's poor start. Carlin made a CD that to this day has significance in the world. And beyond the significance, it's funny! An absolute must-have for any fan of comedy.
Worst Tracks: Class Clown, Wasted Time-Sharing A Swallow Best Tracks: The Confessional, Seven Words You Cannot Say On Television (DUH!)
Overall rating 10/10 (amazing that a few superb jokes can overcome a bad 16-minute long one to end with a perfect score)
The first time I actually started caring about David Cross was when I started watching the brilliantly written, short lived show, Arrested Development, where he played the flamboyant, in-the-closet character, Tobias Fumke. He played one of the funniest characters on a show filled with talented actors, and I couldn't wait to listen to his first album, Shut Up, You Fucking Baby!
I am no longer a fan.
David Cross' set is the epitome of cynicism. Now, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Bill Hicks and George Carlin both knew how to be funny while being cynical at the same time. There's a lot of comedy in being pessimistic about the world. But Cross doesn't seem to know how to do that, at least not in this CD.
The album can be more accurately titled "I'm pissed about everything". From the very start, he is complaining about his life, starting with his southern roots and Jewish heritage (he's a staunch atheist). Now, like I said, there's ways to do this, WHILE BEING FUNNY, but he's doesn't do it. It's just an angry rant. After these two long jokes, I was already anticipating the end of it. But wait, there's more.
Cross goes on to complain a little bit more about things, and he got to one track that I actually enjoyed; I'd say the title, but the track titles couldn't be more different than the jokes' subject (they are quite amusing, though). The topic I enjoyed here is concerning Los Angeles, a city all those close to me know I loathe. The style and delivery of the joke was the same. The material not particularly better than the rest. The commentary was not any deeper. But I enjoyed the joke so much more because it was something I too detest, and for partially similar reasoning. Then it hit me. To actually enjoy Cross as a stand-up comedian, I think you have to be pretty upset and angry with the world, preferably to the same degree that he is (which is no easy feat).
But to be fair, there were jokes in the album that were not chock-full of pessimism. These were also some of my favorite jokes on the CD. Cross is certainly capable of being delightfully amusing, but his attitude towards life often seems to get in the way of it. For example, have you ever thought that the last five minutes of a South Park episode often take the joke just a little too far? The whole episode builds a great satire, and then they juuuust cross the line a bit, but not nearly enough to ruin the whole joke of the episode? Take that little bit and create a 2-hour set out of it, and you have David Cross.
If you are a particularly cynical person, or if you had a beef with the way things in the world were going in 2002, you will probably really enjoy this album. But keep in mind, a majority of Cross' set is bashing religion and anything right-winged, so if you are at ALL sensitive to those issues, you won't enjoy Shut Up, You Fucking Baby!
Best Tracks: Phone Call from A Crazy Terrorist, You Go Girl, Worst Tracks: Sex on the Internet, My Daughter's First Date
Mike Birbiglia is a name that, while a tongue-twister, is rapidly becoming more and more prominent in stand-up. Born in Massachusetts, Birbiglia, attended Georgetown University, where he was voted "The Funniest Person On Campus", which started his career as a professional funny-man. His first two CD's, Dog years and Two Drink Mike, are the subject for this blog.
Now, I don't plan on using one entry for two albums very often, but in this case it seemed to be the smartest way to do it. Dog Years was first, debuting in 2004, and Two Drink Mike came two years later. In those two years, Birbiglia clearly came into his own in terms of delivery and style. In Dog Years, he sounds noticeably uncomfortable and awkward, and it doesn't work. His next album, however, he still has the awkward demeanor, but he uses it to his advantage. His material is largely centered around him being awkward in social situations, and using a delivery that embraces that lack of grace makes his set exponentially better.
Now, most comedians take a while to come into their own as a performer. So what? If there is a noticeable difference in how he presents himself in two CD's, why not mention that as I review each CD? Well, the biggest reason is that the jokes in the two CD's are the same! It took me until the seventh track of Dog Years to hear him tell a joke that I hadn't heard in Two Drink Mike! And even after the new joke, most of the rest of the CD is still the same material. After Dog Years came out and Birbiglia developed his style, he was offered another chance to make a CD. I can only imagine that he either A) hadn't written enough material to make a new CD, or B) he decided that he wanted this CD to be a do-over with his new and improved style. I want to believe its the latter, since in just a year after Two Drink Mike he had compiled enough material to release a third album. Now, for the rest of this review, I will be judging strictly Two Drink Mike, as I've marked Dog Years in the category of a warm-up. Now, on with the show!
Two Drink Mike is quite simply, hilarious. Birbiglia's material takes a wide range, from awkward situations, to rap, to gay cats, and that's just in the first half of the album! Because of this range, and the fact that he rarely uses expletives or foul humor, he appeals to a wide range of audiences. But even for those who enjoy comedians who talk about sex, he is very capable of taking the subject and give it an absurd twist, in the aptly titled track "Sex, Tennis, and Pandas".
Birbiglia is not one to center his act around politics either, but he always tries to fit in a little bit somewhere. Now, as a conservative, I don't often laugh at cheap George Bush jokes (see, Saturday Night Live from 2005-2008), but a good one can have me rolling on the floor, and that's what he delivers. He compares Bush to a hypothetical Whiffle Ball Tony, a guy that you want to invite to the picnic to start the Whiffle ball game, but not one you want RUNNING the picnic. The analogy is both accurate and hysterical. Props to you, Mike, it's my favorite Bush joke yet.
Birbiglia even uses music in his set. He plays some simple guitar tunes to mimic the style of certain people/music to a tee. Like everything else on the CD, this too is incredibly entertaining. He even finishes his set with a nice re-cap song where he throws in several of the show's punchlines into one last song, which is more amusing than hysterical, but it works as an excellent cap to a great album.
To sum up, you do NOT need to have both of these CD's, and of the two, I HIGHLY recommend Two Drink Mike over Dog Years. To be honest, I recommend Two Drink Mike over most albums. Funny from start to finish, Two Drink Mike appeals to just about everybody, and is a must have for any stand-up lover.
Best Tracks: Whiffle Ball Tony, Cracka Worst Track: Whatever You Are, Be A Good One
Overall Rating: Dog Years: 3/10 Two Drink Mike: 10/10
The time has come for me to rate the performer who turned me into a fan of stand-up comedy: Bill Cosby. As I have mentioned before, listening to his CDs in the car with my father is what turned me on to the art, and to this day I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mr. Cosby, especially after seeing him live a few months ago, and let me just say, he's still got it.
Bill Cosby is a man who needs no introduction, but to be safe, I'll give a little bit of background information. He is regarded as one of the greatest stand-ups to ever perform. Comedy Central ranked him as the 8th greatest stand-up performer of all time. He has received dozens of mainstream awards, including 7 grammys for best comedy album, and 3 emmys as a groundbreaking character Alex Scott in the drama, I Spy. And every bit of his commercial fame started with his first album that became an instant hit: Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow, Right!
The album was released in 1963, only a year after he started performing regularly in night clubs. Considering he had been in the business for such a short period, this album is incredible. His timing is perfect, his voices are spot-on and appropriate, and his jokes are clearly well prepared. That being said, there are a few shortcomings in the album.
Cosby starts out with a subject that has been discussed and joked about countless times, but I have not been able to find any performed material on it prior to this cd, and that is women going to the restrooms in groups. Of course, we are all familiar with it. Every man notices it, and every woman is guilty of it, and that is the core of the joke. Cosby jokes about incidents that he's encountered with it, and looks at the reversed situation, and its brilliant. The only problem is that these days, most people have probably already heard similar anecdotes and parodies along the same lines, so it wouldn't have the same effect on today's audiences as it would to those in 1963. Not Cosby's fault, of course, you can't expect every joke to stand the test of time, though many of his do. The best example on the cd being his bits about Noah.
Cosby starts off the joke admitting that EVERYBODY has heard the story of Noah, but he goes on to recreate events of the ark in way that still cracks me up after listening to it dozens of times. The best part about this is that he admits how common of a subject it is, and he STILL is able to set up the audience and knock them down. The only other comedian I can think of that can do this as well as he does is the Jerry Seinfeld. It's no coincidence that these two are both among the greatest ever.
The biggest things missing from Cosby's act at the time, though, are transitions. He can get the audience roaring with a punchline, but he goes on to the next joke without any sort of transition or play-in. He just throws the next subject at the audience and jumps in. Through his career he got much better at this, and nobody can expect perfection on the first album, this is simply one point to find a hole in his performance. The other of which being a few slow jokes with unsatisfactory (or missing) punchlines.
Fortunately, there aren't many of these instances on this cd, though they are present. Oddly enough, these are two tracks which predominantly feature Cosby talking in a funny voice, an ability that has gained him quite a bit of fame, and even more laughs. The two jokes are him impersonating athletes trying to act in commercials, and being painfully terrible. Cosby does a decent job of acting poorly, but the jokes aren't well paced and can easily lose an audience, especially today.
This CD is a must have for any Cosby lover, and anybody who enjoys listening to older comedy albums, which could explain why I enjoy it so much. But if you're kind of humor is more fast-paced, joke after joke after joke, this may not be the best cd for you.
Worst tracks: Tiny Little Hairs, Greasy Kid Stuff Best Tracks: Noah: Right!, Noah: And the Neighbor, Noah: Me and You, Lord
Welcome one and all, ladies and gentlemen, to what is the first of many of Joe Schneider's blogs. In A Comedy Critic, I will examine stand up comedy albums and rate them according to my scale of brilliance. From Lenny Bruce and George Carlin, to Mitch Hedberg and Demetri Martin, I will explore all aspects of the stage: delivery, material, originality and edginess. You name it, I'll judge it.
Many of you may be wondering why I, a simple college student, have the right to judge a comedian's worth. Well, this is America, so there. But enough of the Glen Beck spiel. Since my dad gave my Bill Cosby's To Russell, My Brother Whom I Slept With when I was very young, I have been eager to listen to and learn more about stand up comedy. Its history, its quirks, its stars, its hacks, everything. Over the years I've continually added to my collection, to the point where I have over 12 gigs of material on my iTunes(and I'm nowhere near stopping).
So there you go. You have some background information on me, and now I will start with my first official critique on one of my favorite albums, Jim Gaffigan's Beyond the Pale.
Jim Gaffigan is one of the best working comedians working today. He continually sells out shows and arenas around the country, and for good reason. He's witty, he's clean, he's likable, and he's downright funny, and Beyond the Pale is Gaffigan's best work to date.
"Oh he's a pale fella..."
He starts off the cd in his trademark "asides" voice, where he imitates a hypothetical audience members thoughts. He does this for quite a while (his actual voice doesn't come in until 1:15 into the cd), and every comment he makes adds to the last, even to the point where he's making fun of the fact that he hasn't said anything of actual value yet. Throughout the cd (as is the case in all his acts), he continues to add his asides where appropriate. It's a brilliant tool that provides a perfect segue into his next bit, no matter what it is. Yet even though it works best as a transition, he also uses it excellently as both filler and punchline in his set. He even expresses any fake hostility in the audience by mocking anything even slightly offensive he says ("Hey I like bologna..."), which puts any actual offense they take at ease. Though don't be confused, there is nothing offensive in this album, unless you are particularly touchy about religion.
Now on to the bulk of the cd, FOOD! Gaffigan is probably the leader in jokes about food. Fourteen tracks are specifically dedicated to food related topics. The butt of most of his food jokes relates is the American eating habit. Among his targets are the simplicity of fast food orders, obsessions with desserts, and fake vegetarians. These tracks will keep you rolling, because they are topics that we are so familiar with, yet we often completely overlook the absurdity of them. It is in these tracks that you will find one of his bits that's almost become his trademark bit, Hot Pockets! A very catchy joke because he makes fun of how terrible hot pockets are, and continually pokes fun at their oh-so-simple slogan. But because this is his most recognizable joke, I'd have to say it's probably also his most overrated. Don't get me wrong, the joke is funny, but I wouldn't even put it in the top 10 tracks on this cd, which shows how much comic gold there is to find here.
While he takes a brief break from food, he goes on to lovingly criticize American holiday traditions. Even when some of the subjects are things many of us have already noticed and wondered (why chocolate eggs on Easter?), he puts enough spin on them to make them seem more ridiculous than we initially thought.
more food jokes more food jokes more food jokes
And now we're getting towards the end of the cd, where his primary topic is religion (oh no, the R-word!). Now, as I practicing Catholic, there are times where I take offense to a comedian's poking of my faith, but this is not the case with Gaffigan. His jokes center around Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and Catholicism itself, yet he does so in a way that is neither mean-spirited, nor derogatory. And not only are they benign, they're funny! He recreates biblical scenes that aren't in the bible(Mary telling Joseph that she's pregnant), and adds a few funny things that transpose today's culture to Jesus' (what do you get the Messiah as a gift?). Its the closest he gets to shock value in his set, but manages to steer far away from that course.
Overall, I'd recommend this cd to absolutely everybody. What more can I say? Jim Gaffigan is a funny guy who knows how to keep an audience happy
best tracks: Presents, Eating vegetarian, Eat Like an American, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph worst track: Spray Cheese(also the shortest bit), The Case Against Cinnabons,
