Dan Telfer - Fossil Record

Dan Telfer has been quietly making a name for himself in the stand-up comedy world, playing the nerdy Mike Birbiglia meets Greg Proops card to increasingly larger crowds. For his first EP, Fossil Record, he has opted to release product via the upstart AST (A Special Thing) Records. Telfer is good, and seems to be ingratiating himself to the Oswalt / Posehn / Tompkins set, as the opening slots are coming fast and furious for him.

Again, it's kind of a niche thing, as the lion's share of the material on Fossil Record is about dinosaurs. Intelligently put forth and funny, but about dinosaurs on a comprehensive Discovery Channel meets National Geographic level. Picture a world where there were comedians who made their living doing corporate Paleontology gigs and you've got a good starting point. For some, this may be a deal breaker. Truth be told, there are small asides about Star Wars and Voltron, if either eventuality piques your interest, but the Dane Cook fans in our virtual midst might want to look elsewhere for their comedy fix.

The Telfer web presence mentions a desire to host a science show and he'd be wise to pursue that endeavor. In the absence of that opportunity to hear him, poke around his site and see for yourself what he brings to the table. Here's a link. Lovers of economy as well as comedy might opt for the three-fer EP deal that AST has going on their site. You get Fossil Record, along with the new Greg Proops and Paul F. Tompkins EPs, all for $15. Not so bad of a deal, and no two drink minimum either. Here's a link to the AST deal zone.

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Paul F. Tompkins - Sir, You Have Fooled Me Twice

Tompkins is another guy that has been around a bit. The 90s comedy drought separated a lot of the wheat from the chaff. Those that stuck it out have done pretty well for themselves in recent years. Tompkins is from Philly, but was pretty dug in on the Left Coast, where he was part of Mr. Show and also worked with the Tenacious D and Daily Show camps. There have been records and the odd Comedy Central special here and there, but most of the recent Tompkins presence has been in the podcast end of things. There was a record late last year called Freak Wharf that was pretty good. It came out courtesy of your friends at AST Records, as does this EP. If I understand the banter correctly, this may be extra material from the taping that fostered Freak Wharf. It does have the title track, a sort of oldie that comes up after some crowd work. You can get it in a three-fer deal over AST way, along with the Greg Proops EP we dug earlier this month. Check the deal out here. Those that care to can stay tuned in to day-to-day Tompkins goings-on here.

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Greg Proops - Proops Digs In!

I was pretty sure I hated Greg Proops. I'm not sure whether he was actually the guy from that horrific all-improv comedy show that used to be on Comedy Central, although I'm pretty sure I'm correct in that assumption. I love comedy almost as much as I like music, but while I barely tolerate jamm-y (not Jam-y mind you) rock franchises, I absolutely loathe improv comedy. I guess I may have sold him short, as Digs In! is pretty bad ass. That shitty improv stuff could be argued to show Proops as intelligent, but listening to this, it's obvious he's pretty smart to boot. Think a foppish, less smug David Cross.

Let us point out that Proops well predates Cross in the comedy scene and has maintained quite an international presence in his twenty-some years of comedy. This recording is taken from the release party for his last record Elsewhere, which dropped almost a year ago now and was digitized at Largo in LA, where Proops also hosts a regular night with accompaniment from by Mr. Jon Brion. Proops Digs In shows that Proops is Bill Hicks smart, but he also can get Jim Norton raw. I reference the four minute jag about the penis of Tom Jones that comprises Track 5 of this little number for corroboration of both comparisons. Decide for yourself. The Proops web presence here will both familiarize you with the Proops mystique and allow you to familiarize yourself with his oeuvre.

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