Live: Todd Barry @ People's Improv Theater 11.1.11

So I got a *ahem* tweet that Todd was celebrating his 24th year in comedy by running through his set for his upcoming Comedy Central special at The Pit for standards and practices. Figuring this was the best way to avoid having to buy two overpriced drinks on top of the door, I scrambled down and grabbed one of the few remaining seats. Todd is always a good time, but I always forget that seeing a Comedy Central taping means that if you follow the comedian in any capacity, you've heard the material before.

And I had. Between his recent set at Maxwells and some general radio and internet nerdery, all of the set was familiar ground, but it went over well and should make for a good special. It's taping 12/1 somewhere here in town. Snoop around and you can probably scare up a ticket, else look for it airing sometime after the New Year. Keep track of Todd here at his web presence.

R

Jim Gaffigan - King Baby

Jim Gaffigan has been blowing up in recent years. He does a ton of road work, has had at least a couple Comedy Central specials and has a regular cartoon segment called Pale Force on the Conan O'Brien show that is pretty popular. He also seems to be a regular on Flight Of The Conchords. Suffice to say that he's getting some airtime.

Gaffigan's an acquired taste. He's pretty middle of the road on King Baby, covering the usual topics like eating and sleeping. He loves to use a different tone of voice for his aside, which gets a little irritating for me, but he seems to do alright for himself without this asshole's approval. I like my humor a little bit cruder, frankly, but Gaffigan is genuinely funny. There's something to be said for a comedian you can enjoy with your Mom and for that I guess we should be grateful for Comedy Central taking such an interest. Comedy Central is reairing the specials next month, but you can enjoy King Baby on CD or DVD. Here's a link. Keep track of Gaffigan in the interim here.

R

Norm MacDonald

Hey Kids:

Taking a day off from the music. Look for a gang of music stuff soon, but why not cleanse the palate with a little humor in the interim.

There are two pillars of below-the-radar comedy in my book. One is the great Super Dave Osborne. Jimmy Kimmel has been smart enough to have him on with some regularity when he's not doing Curb Your Enthusiasm, but our Norm has been off the grid for the most part since releasing the brilliant Dirty Work. There was the Ridiculous cd (left) that came out a couple years ago, but that was a bit of a misstep in my mind. Why Norm would release a Bob Newhart-ian record in this millenium is a chin-scratcher, but then again Norm isn't a guy who is about doing what the average comedian does.

Case in point would be the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget. Saget has been riding a wave of ironic hipness in recent years via many re-runs of Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos as well as the funny-the-first-time Rolling With Saget video that Jamie Kennedy threw together. He's made forays back into comedy recently and I can honestly say that they are some of the worst things I've ever been subjected to, but when you've got tens of millions in the bank, I guess it's a lot easy to be cavalier about such things. Why he would get this much shine on Comedy Central is beyond me, but I guess he is like shooting funny fish in a comedic barrel.

The Roast was decent enough, but Norm straight up killed it with a set of warmed-up Friar's Club material delivered as deadpan as he could. The aired stuff was good, but some unaired footage has popped up on the Internets and it's pretty stellar. Check it out:


here

here

and

here

Norm's at Caroline's for a couple shows from 9/25 to 9/27. You can get tickets here.
I would welcome guest list privileges from any industry professionals that might provide.

R