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
Overall Rating: 7/10
