The Punch LIne #3

Hey All:

The latest installment of my comedy column, The Punch Line is now up at Skyscraper.

Here's a link.

R

Norm Macdonald - Me Doing Standup CD/DVD

There is always much celebration when anything Norm-related appears on the radar. There is, of course, the new Sports Show With Norm Macdonald. The eight show arc was pretty top-notch, hopefully to be renewed for another season. There is also the formidable Twitter presence to be enjoyed. Know that only Mssrs. Macdonald and/or Jon Wurster would suck me into that vortex of ridiculousness and that those two (ok, and Todd Barry) are worth the trip.

Comedy Central dropped a new standup special from Norm called Me Doing Standup (during a green initiative that urged people to turn off all electrical devicery) and have now dropped a CD and DVD version of the set, no doubt to mollify the tree-hugging masses. The cd is good, but you know you really want the DVD. That adds about 10 minutes, plus the Back To Norm special from a couple years back, his roasting of Bob Saget and some animated featurette. No one possessing of a working neurological system should be without Me Doing Standup. Get it here.

R

Brian Regan - All By Myself

I had always been kind of on the fence about Brian Regan until Norm MacDonald kept mentioning on the regular as one of his favorite comedians. That type of endorsement will get me investigating and after having done so, I'll give our Mr. Regan props. He works pretty clean, if that's your thing, and is pretty funny despite not working as blue as I would normally prefer. My questionable morality aside, pure comedy fans would do well to check Regan and All By Myself. Here's a link.

R

Jimmy Carr - Making People Laugh

I like Jimmy Carr a lot. His Comedy Central specials have always been solid and his appearances on the UK version of Top Gear are some of the best TV I've seen since Norm MacDonald's reign of terror on Conan's Tonight Show run. That said, I really didn't figure on almost two hours of Carr being an engaging proposition. Boy was I wrong. Carr kills it for the duration. Taped in front of a rabid Glasgow audience, he alternately skewers the crowd and drops some new material that the average stateside comedian would shank Seinfeld in the neck for. I'm not sure when/if this will ever make it stateside, but Making People Laugh is some must-see comedy.

R

Artie Lange - Too Fat To Fish

Unlike the other belligerent drunk comedian that I've spoken of recently, I can't say enough good things about Artie Lange. His Stern cred is top-shelf, he can call Norm Macdonald one of his best friends and he seems pretty humble for a guy who has been known to wallow in cocaine and booze for fun. I again enjoyed this via the audio book (why? because you can't snag books off the web) and while I will say that it is still far too long for a guy who reads as fast as I do, Too Fat To Fish is totally great. Artie reads the first couple chapters wherein he talks about his family and early life and it's one of the most engaging things you'll ever hear. It's totally inspiring and heartbreaking, especially in Lange's Jersey accent. You may recall that Artie has some addiction issues, and by chapter three he goes to rehab (literally) and has buddies like Ba-ba-booey and Jim Florentine read the rest. Too Fat To Fish is pretty great regardless of who is on the mike, so believe the hype. Avoid the nightmare that is that ridiculous Palin book and check out a guy who cares more about his family and the troops overseas that 90% of the people who can't shut up about it.
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