Urbana Free Library Picks: Stand-up Comedy

Showing posts with label Stand-up Comedy. Show all posts

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Patton Oswalt's Weakness is Hilarious

Patton Oswalt is really freaking funny, if his stand-up CD/DVD set My Weakness is Strong is any example [1]. His is adult humor, so be sure to alter your expectations if you pick this up. He's not the family-friendly guy from the King of Queens, nor the child-friendly Remy the rat that he voices in Ratatouille when he does his stand-up. Is there some raunch? Maybe a little--everyone's got different sensibilities. One man's raunch is another man's belly laugh.

Oswalt hits a variety of topics in this routine--from getting ready for parenting to interrupting an orgy while visiting houses with his realtor, from grocery store check out robots to how Ratatouille ruined Halloween, from not believing his wife about the existence of a giant rat in the back yard to believing his wife about the existence of a giant rat in the back yard. His observations and anecdotes are great for producing suffocating, tear-filled laughs.

He recently published a book, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, that I'm looking forward to reading [2]. While I wait for a copy to come available, I'll check out Big Fan, a film Ebert gives 3.5 outta 4 stars [3]. To end this post on one of those newspaper-headline style pun-cliches, Oswalt's made himself a big fan with me.

Set list:
1. Check out Oswalt's My Weakness is Strong (includes DVD and CD)

2. Hop on the Zombie Spaceship Wasteland wait list with me!

3. Check out Big Fan, and if you've never heard of it, check out Ebert's review.
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Monday, December 27, 2010

Sleepwalk With Me

I want to start this post by saying "Hi!" to the author, Mike Birbiglia, who will get a Google alert of this posting bearing his name. Mr. Birbiglia, to save your time, I'm telling folks that they would likely enjoy your book. Feel free to skip to your next Google alert.

Mike Birbiglia's Sleepwalk With Me and Other Painfully True Stories reads is a fast, fun read. If you've seen his stand up special or guest spots on Letterman and such, or heard him on The Moth Podcast, This American Life, or the Bob and Tom show, you can easily impose his rhythm and pattern of speaking on the text and have a fuller experience.

On the other hand, if you've had this previous exposure to Birbiglia, you'll also have a diminished experience when you reach a passage you've heard him deliver elsewhere, but there was much material in this book that was new to me. And honestly, I don't mind a retelling of the time he was sleepwalking in La Quinta Inn while having a dream about a missile heading directly for him. If you haven't heard that story, you really need to grab this book.

I have no hesitations about recommending this book or Birbiglia as a comedian to anyone. His experience is relate-able, by which I mean not so outlandish that my father would not accuse me of being "a strange one" were I to give him this book. The stories do not prominently feature sex, alcohol, drug use, and offensive language is used sparingly, if at all (I don't recall any offensive language, actually).

Why all this stands out to me is that I'm used to funny people relying on the adjective/adverb versions of four-letter words to hilariously accentuate their stories of drunken escapades. It's refreshing to be cracked up by someone's relatively normal experiences lacking those common sorts of crutches. I think he'd crack you up, too, if you give him the chance.

Field of Links:
Request Mike Birbiglia's Sleepwalk with Me
Request one of his CDs, like My Secret Public Journal Live or Two Drink Mike
Check out his website or his YouTube videos or the This American Life shows he was on or...maybe just Google him
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Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Audiobooks: Stand-up Comedy & Comedians

Maybe a year ago, while handling some Eddie Izzard CD donations, I realized our audiobook collection lacked much stand-up comedy.

No one had been asking for comedy ... but then again, people are always surprised to learn that we welcome requests.

When the first titles I ordered hit the shelf, they quickly became the most popular nonfiction audiobooks ... and still are.

Herewith, our current list:

Woody Allen / Standup Comic, 1978

Todd Barry / From Heaven, 2008

John Bean / The Real Leroy Mercer, 2008

Mike Birbiglia

Two Drink Mike, 2006
My Secret Public Journal Live, 2007

Lewis Black

Rules of Enragement, 2003
Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues, 2005
The Carnegie Hall Performance, 2006
Anticipation, 2008

Bill Burr

Emotionally Unavailable, 2007
Why Do I Do This?, 2008

Blue Collar Comedy Tour (Bill Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy, et al.)

The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2003
One for the Road, 2006

Louis C.K. / Chewed Up, 2008

John Caparulo / Meet Cap, 2009

George Carlin

What Am I Doing in New Jersey?, 1988
Parental Advisory--Explicit Lyrics, 1990
You Are All Diseased, 1999
Braindroppings, 2000
Complaints and Grievances, 2001
It's Bad for Ya, 2008

Margaret Cho / Assassin, 2005

Dane Cook / Isolated Incident, 2009

Bill Cosby

To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With, 1968
Cosby and the Kids, 1986

David Cross

Shut Up You Fucking Baby, 2002
It's Not Funny, 2004

Bill Engvall / 15° Off Cool, 2007

Jeff Foxworthy / Have Your Loved Ones Spayed or Neutered, 2004

Jim Gaffigan

Doing My Time, 2004
Beyond the Pale, 2006
King Baby, 2009

Mitch Hedberg

Strategic Grill Locations, 1999
Mitch All Together, 2003
Do You Believe in Gosh?, 2008

Bill Hicks / Rant in E-minor, 1997

Eddie Izzard

Glorious, 1997
Dress to Kill, 1998

Sam Kinison / Have You Seen Me Lately?, 1988

Larry the Cable Guy / The Right to Bare Arms, 2005

Martin Lawrence / Funk It!, 1995

Cheech Marin & Tommy Chong / Cheech & Chong's Greatest Hit, 1981

Demetri Martin / These Are Jokes, 2006

John Mulaney / The Top Part, 2009

Dan Naturman / Get Off My Property, 2009

Patton Oswalt, et al. / Comedy Death Ray, 2007

Brian Posehn / Live In: Nerd Rage, 2006

Richard Pryor / The Anthology, 1968-1992, 2001

Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks / The Complete 2000 Year Old Man, 1973

Don Rickles / Hello Dummy!, 1995

Chris Rock / Cheese and Crackers: The Greatest Bits, 2007

Adam Sandler

What the Hell Happened to Me?, 1996
What's Your Name?, 1997

Sarah Silverman / Jesus Is Magic, 2006

Ron White / You Can't Fix Stupid, 2005

Katt Williams / It's Pimpin' Pimpin', 2009

Steven Wright / I Have a Pony, 1985

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Want to hear more comedy?

Visit MyMediaMall.net for other quality titles.

Just use the search term Comedy, find "Sort by," then click most popular.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Man Up: Katt Williams

Two items on steady under-the-radar circulation:

the CD and DVD editions of comedian Katt Williams' It's Pimpin' Pimpin'.

One reviewer at Amazon.com writes:

"I live in a building in South Florida with a lot of old people. We laughed so hard and loud ... that one of my neighbors told the security guard to come tell us to be quiet."

Williams also appears in the films Norbit, First Sunday, and The Perfect Holiday.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Top 20 Nonfiction Audiobooks

A funny thing happened this past fall.

I placed an order for stand-up comedy albums ... and they've been going out the door like crazy!

Below you'll find a list of our most popular nonfiction audiobooks added in the last six to eight months.

The majority--to my continuing surprise--are the work of comics frequently seen on Comedy Central and elsewhere.