We’re now 7 months into this newsletter, so I’m mixing things up a little.
First: this is the last edition I send on a Saturday. From next time, letdown comedy will be “a case of the Mondays”.
Second: I don’t really want to do the warm-up links anymore, so I decided to send a lighter post with comedy recommendations every once in a while. This is one of those posts. I don’t think I could come up with a definite “Top 5 Fave Comedy Albums Ever” list, so this is only one of infinite potential top 5s. Let’s call it The 1st LC Stand-Up Comedy Dump (LCSUD), and the theme is roughly “stuff I love that is well written and I have listened to a lot”. I will make more in the future, probably with more serious themes. Scroll etc.
Emmy Blotnick — Party Nights
This is only one track from Emmy Blotnick’s Party Nights, but the whole album is as gold as those confetti falling in the cover pic. I chose this bit because it is quite representative of her sharp writing: describing tea as pretty much antithetical to the jovial social lubricant that is craft beer, she paints a vivid picture of the tea room as a rather inhospitable place where everyone is “clutching a locket, suffering a loss” (the line gets me every time). She has other clever concepts in the album, and a warm, slow-paced voice that makes it a pleasure to listen to.
Hannibal Buress — Comedy Camisado
Hannibal Buress has one of the most original deliveries in comedy today, and I have been following him since his brilliant first album, My Name is Hannibal. He got more exposure after mentioning Bill Cosby’s infamous predatory behavior in one of his bits (at a time when people were not talking about it much), but most of his material is based on much lighter and sillier situations from his own life. The clip above is exemplary of Buress’ masterful control of voice, pace, and intensity — he goes from laid back to hyped up and back, delivering punchlines with rugged elegance.
Rachel Feinstein — Only Whores Wear Purple
Rachel Feinstein’s take on Vegas douchery is pretty much her trademark. I first saw this bit in an episode of Last Comic Standing and it is on both her albums (the version above, from the more recent Only Whores Wear Purple, is a bit more polished than the older one). Feinstein has one of the richest vocabularies in American stand-up comedy, plus a performative talent that really comes through in her recurring “naive 1950s woman” character. I got to see her open for Louis CK in Amsterdam a few years ago, which was a treat.
Gary Gulman — Conversations with Inanimate Objects
I could pick pretty much any of Gary Gulman’s albums (there’s a lot of those on Spotify, so I suggest you check them out) and it would be gold. His most recent The Great Depresh details a recent struggle with mental health, but most of his bits are extremely detailed, opinionated tirades about everyday trivialities. An excellent writer with great timing, Gulman can squeeze 13 solid minutes of comedy out of cookies — and all of it is funny, even if you are unfamiliar with American brands like me. If the above is not a good enough gateway to Gulman for you, I suggest his take on Karate Kid (you can listen to that instead of watching Kobra Kai).
Todd Barry — Medium Energy
Todd Barry is my favorite comedian and I will probably write a whole piece about him at some point. This bit was the opener to his first album (my favorite), so it still has that old laid-back, quasi-musical quality that is Barry’s signature. I say “old” because with time Todd has slightly changed his performing voice, losing the more accentuated cadence of his first two or three albums in favor of a more subtle tone. I guess I am so fond of his earlier work because he was probably the first comedian I “discovered” through an old Comedy Central Presents special I downloaded via WinMX back in 2007. Despite his comedic persona is very carefully crafted, Barry is also a legendary improviser: he was the only comedian in the program who actually engaged in crowd work during his special, and he was also the first stand-up that I know of who went on to do a whole crowd work-based tour, which then became a comedy album (several others have imitated this feat since). Now listen to the purest stand-up I know talk about people masturbating in front of ATM machines.