Patton Oswalt
My Weakness Is Strong
Warner Brothers/Degenerate
It’s somewhat ironic that most of Patton Oswalt’s fame has come from more family friendly roles in King Of Queens and Pixar’s Ratatouille, when his standup material has often been so dark, cynical, and heavily sarcastic – almost like a crazy, train station bum who you’d never let near your house. The beauty here is that Patton is so intelligent and well spoken, that he instantly draws you in and has no problem keeping your attention. He’s the kind of guy I could see holding his own at a fancy, corporate bigwig party, even though in the back of his mind he’d be cursing out the suits, secretly wishing he was at home drinking scotch and watching horror movies. Not only is this some of his greatest material yet, but it also includes a DVD of the performance, with bonus sketches that also feature greats like Paul F. Tompkins and Julie Klausner.
Eugene Mirman
God Is A Twelve Year Old Boy With Aspergers
Sub Pop
“Were you named class clown in high school?” is a pretty common, yet bad interview question with comedians. For starters, the title is often awarded to the kid that quotes whatever the latest movie-catch-phrase is, more than the weird, goofy kid that’s actually really funny. Eugene Mirman was definitely one of the later kids, who still plays up his outsider-ness today (I’m not making that up – he briefly covers this in a story about how he was placed in special ed). Mirman tends to favor playful misunderstandings as well as bizarre “What if?” type scenarios. That’s not to say he doesn’t have an edge of his own, particularly with a complaint letter to his gas company, and a full on hate-inspired-play about his experience with a popular commercial airline. But overall, Eugene comes off as the kind of happy go lucky person, who instead of getting upset or angry with anything, is content with quickly diffusing any situation with a good (if also completely crazy) joke, which is my favorite approach to just about everything.
Scharpling And Wurster
At The Speed Of Sound
Stereolaffs
It’s admittedly somewhat pointless to be reviewing this particular Scharpling and Wurster release. For one, their comedy is some that doesn’t translate to being explained well at all – It thrives on creating some confusion, before sucking you in as you see the bigger picture. But I’ll say this – If you’re a fan of classics like Bob and Ray, as well as good music in general, you’ll love what they have to offer. The other reason is that this particular release was given away as part of a WFMU Marathon, as a premium for pledging during The Best Show on WFMU. So if anything, it’s a reminder to not only check this out, but to support one of, if not the best listener funded free form radio station in the country.
Eugene Mirman reports on the weather in a snow storm.
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