A brand new hour from the brilliant and wonderful Maria Bamford is coming in about a week. It’s called 20% and will be released digitally through Comedy Central Records on Saturday, September 24th.
We don’t think we need to say more than that do we? Other than that you should commit that date to memory so you can remember when to get into this new hour, we need not say anymore.
When it comes to dark comedy, there are a lot of comedians that walk on the dark side merely as a stunt. They just say something shocking just to get a rise out of people and, more often than not, there’s no real depth or artistry to it.
Drew Michael deals in dark comedy, but does so by genuinely exploring the darkest corners of his already dark thoughts including his uncanny affinity for manifestos. On his latest album Funny to Death, he takes a wry journey through his psyche that offers pros and cons of his beliefs, flaws, and insecurities that’s hilarious if you choose to take the ride. It’s dark comedy that’s more personal and vulnerable than it is just the idea of being dark.
Michael had his half hour special premiere on Comedy Central earlier this week, but you can get a more unfiltered, uncut, uncensored, longer offering from him with Funny to Death, available here.
Kill Rock Stars continues their stellar catalog of comedy albums that includes Kurt Braunohler, Hari Kondabolu, Cameron Esposito, and starting today, Rhea Butcher.
Butcher’s first album, aptly titled Butcher, offers a great introduction to Rhea as the honest, yet very charming stand-up comedian. Specifically, Rhea gives a great glimpse into her cool life as a lesbian, vegetarian, a baseball enthusiast, and more, but she does so in a way where you’d never think of her just as a funny lesbian, vegetarian, or baseball comedian. You just think she’s a funny comedian that happens to identify with all those things.
So, get Butcher here along with collectible t-shirts and hats off of Kill Rock Stars.
Boyish Girl Interrupted, I’m Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine), and Neither Here Nor There are now available for the “listening-inclined”.
If you’re either the sort of person that prefers their stand-up with audio only or one that doesn’t have an HBO or Netflix account/password, you can now get to listen to three comedy specials from three of our favorite comedians making the rounds these days.
Tig Notaro’s Boyish Girl Interrupted, first premiered as an HBO special, is now on iTunes.
Jen Kirkman’s I’m Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine), first premiered as a Netflix special, is also now available on iTunes.
Henry Phillips’ Neither Here Nor There is set to premiere as a comedy special on Vimeo On Demand on August 15th, but you can stream the audio version on Audible’s streaming service, Channels, if you’re an Audible member right now. On August 19th, the album version will be available digitally at iTunes and wherever else digital albums or sold.
So, get in on all of these, especially for the fact that you can now probably clock in three new hours of fine comedy while working.
Preview Rhea Butcher’s “Butcher” Coming Out This Month at Kill Rock Stars
Rhea is the co-host of Put Your Hands Together, the co-creator/star of upcoming Seeso series Take My Wife, and has been a great transplant for the LA comedy scene from Chicago.
Naturally, we’re excited about her first album coming out very soon as well as the above preview clip.
Specifically, Rhea Butcher’s debut comedy album Butcher will be coming on Friday, August 19th off of Kill Rock Stars, but you can pre-order it now and in on a sweet t-shirt and baseball cap.
It’s all official now.
The 2016 Presidential Election will be between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
That’s unfortunate as this contest, with Bernie Sanders having dropped out, now has left the brilliant satirical parody of Trump vs. Bernie, orchestrated masterfully by Anthony Atamanuik and James Adomian hanging.
So, with that in mind, Atamanuik and Adomian have retired Trump vs. Bernie for now, but have made sure give us all one last parting gift: a Trump vs. Bernie album.
Trump vs. Bernie: Live in Brooklyn was just released yesterday on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Spotify, and will come out on vinyl in November.
Of all the political comedy in this election, Trump vs. Bernie stood out from the pack and you should definitely get their album to remember/find out what that was.
When it comes to issues of politics and social justice, Hari Kondabolu has really set himself apart greatly from the run-of-the-mill political humor and social satire. His latest album Mainstream American Comic exemplifies his brilliant writing that skews very liberal, but also keeps an open mind, hence one clever layer of the title.
For this new hour, Hari dives head first into hot button issues like race, gender, and the election as well as even higher brow topics like modern art and the surgeon general, but always manages to keep his jokes sharp at every level and facet, which Hari makes sure there are plenty of.
Here’s a preview to show you what we’re talking about.
<a href=“http://harikondabolu.bandcamp.com/album/mainstream-american-comic”>Mainstream American Comic by Hari Kondabolu</a>
Mainstream American Comic comes out tomorrow, Friday, July 22nd, off of Kill Rock Stars, but you can pre-order (or order depending when you’re reading this) it right now with a collector’s mug.
Announced today, Henry Phillips’ (who you have probably seen when we’ve posted about Henry’s Kitchen) latest hour Neither Here Nor There from Rooftop Comedy will be coming soon.
You’ll have range of options to enjoy a great combo of stand-up and song from Henry starting with it streaming on Audible’s audio streaming service Channels on July 22nd, then released as a comedy special through Vimeo on August 15th, and then released as a digital album on August 19th.
You can mark your calendars for all these dates, but we’ll be sure to remind you when they come around too.
It’s no secret that the zeitgeist is brimming with negativity right now.
The comedy of Aparna Nancherla is a refreshing splash of fun amidst these tense times. As such, her debut album Just Putting It Out There, off of Tig Notaro’s Bentzen Ball Records, is a pure delight. Nancherla works in subtle layers of social commentary and existential quandries in the hour, but does so in such a bouncy, bubbly way that you almost forget that she might be doing jokes about depression or feminism.
Like we said above, if you feel the need to laugh and smile right now, you should get Just Putting It Out There right now. By the way, it’s available on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, and on CD.
While there is often a worry in music about a band’s sophomore album, there is absolutely nothing to worry about with Jerry Rocha’s sophomore offering, Pickle Dick.
Rocha hammers out another fun hour relentless, unfiltered honesty that’s as vulnerable as it is loose and screwy. From being dumped at Comic-Con to dissecting the JFK assassination site, Jerry treads on dark territory, but has such a spirited stage presence the whole time that it’s a fun ride from start to finish.
Get Pickle Dick on iTunes here.
Though All Things Comedy are still relatively new to releasing comedy albums, they have had good releases including ones from Nick Youssef, Sheng Wang, and, most recently, NYC’s Yannis Pappas.
Yannis’ recently released Let Me Be Yannis showcases his very honed comedy chops. Strong point-of-view, undeniable confidence, a range of voices and act outs, and ad libbing all come together nicely for Yannis. Also, his well structured material flows pretty well across a wide range of topics including gun control and destination weddings.
Get Let Me Be Yannis from iTunes now.
<a href=“http://harikondabolu.bandcamp.com/album/mainstream-american-comic”>Mainstream American Comic by Hari Kondabolu</a>
(via The AV Club)
Hari Kondabolu’s Mainstream American Comic, the follow-up album to the excellent Waiting for 2042 is coming next month. It’s actually set for release on July 22nd from Kill Rock Stars.
If you need Hari’s politically charged, yet cleverly personal comedy sooner, here’s a great preview.
You can actually pre-order the subversively titled Mainstream American Comic on iTunes, Bandcamp, and Kill Rock Stars right now.
It’s a bit of a surprise to us that Matt Dwyer hasn’t had an album under his belt already given his exhaustive comedy resume, but perhaps that is what makes this first album feel special and imbued with a sense of urgency.
Inside Looking Out is indeed Dwyer’s first album is being released by Jonah Ray’s imprint label Literally Figurative Records off of AST Records. Dwyer impressively spans his comedy repertoire, both in content and form, which he delights in as there is a lot to cherry pick from. He includes traditional stand-up, song, and reading of short form pieces that come from a very a brutally honest and sincere place, but, sometimes, ratchets the absurdity up to the nth degree. For all of that, Inside Looking Out gives you a really expansive scope of comedy at its core and its fringes.
You can get Inside Looking Out off of iTunes or on 12″ red vinyl. You can also stream it on Apple Music.
Nick Youssef has just come out with his follow up to his solid debut album Stop Not Owning This, 1982 (a riff on Taylor Swift’s album title “1989″ perhaps?).
For this hour, Youssef examines making it out of his 20s into his 30s. It’s well trodden territory for comedy, but Nick delivers it effortlessly with such painstaking, colorful detail that it does stand out from the pack. He also balances poking fun at millennials and those even younger for all their shortcomings as well as throwing himself under the bus as a pretentious coffee addict. From start to finish, 1982 flows together so well almost like you just watched a “slice-of-life” indie flick of Youssef’s life these days.
You can 1982 off of iTunes now.
You may have a whole bevy of insults at the ready when it comes to shouting down those folks that are will to spend $5+ on a single cup of coffee.
However, leave it to those coffee addicts like Nick Youssef to really describe exactly how ridiculous drinking their joe at high falutin coffee shops really is.
FYI, it’s a track off his forthcoming album 1982 that’s set to release next week on May 27th from AST Records.You can (and should) pre-order it here.
Nearly all comedians talk about their parents in some form or fashion. Not all comedians’ parents happen to be hippies of the highest degree.
Emily Maya Mills’ folks were as hippie as you can possibly imagine, which has colored her comedy in a great way, especially since she has taken her life in a decidedly different direction from her parents. Her debut album By a Thread off of AST Records is a great, personal introduction to Emily and her life after a childhood of being made to be in touch with nature.
Just listen to how she demystifies Coachella in this preview.
Get By a Thread from AST Records or off iTunes.
The generations seem as divided as they’ve ever been these days, content with yelling at each other rather than trying to understand each other’s position. Thankfully, there are comedians like Derek Sheen who very deftly bridges the thinking between many generations with his new album Tiny Idiot.
Whether his joke centers on religious hypocrisy, being open minded about fellatio, or the new, snarky breed of butcher shops, Sheen paints a great, vibrant light that shines through all of the nonsense from any demographic that has been floating around lately. If you’re not acquainted with Sheen, you should start now with this album.
Tiny Idiot is available now off of Stand Up! Records here.
(via Billboard)
We say “yes” to all of this.
After a number of releases off of Secretly Canadian, Tig Notaro is launching an imprint label called Bentzen Ball Records.
The name of the label comedy from “…a guy named Ole Bentzen who apparently died of a heart attack from laughter while watching A Fish Called Wanda,” says Notaro. It’s kind of a perfect story for the name of a comedy record label.
On top of that, the first release should be a doozy as it will be the first album from the fantastic Aparna Nancherla. Called Just Putting It Out There, it will come out July 8th..
See a preview of it here.
So, keep an eye on Bentzen Ball Records in the months to come.
Brian Moote’s debut comedy album Artsy? has been in, our opinion, a long time coming. Moote is one of those nomadic comedians that splits plenty of time between different cities that they call home and doing the road and has the comedic chops to warrant that much traveling. Thus, we’re thrilled that he finally has an hour of stand-up on record.
The album is filled with personal stories that Brian has carefully honed into structurally sound bits. He also has a charming stage presence that lasts for days on end and a good eye for highlighting those small details that make his material
Check it out for yourself by getting a copy of Artsy? from Rooftop Comedy.
Sunday May 15th at 9PM at The Chatterbox in Covina to be exact.
Melissa Villasenor has always been a delight with all the voices and personal stories in her comedy for the many years that we’ve seen her in and around and throughout the comedy scene in LA (as well as her notable run on America’s Got Talent).
So, she is recording her very first album next month and we think you ought to go see how much of a delight she is for yourself.
This week, Geoff Tate came out with his third album, Again, from Rooftop Comedy and it’s best hour of stand-up yet.
Tate has gotten sharper and more detailed in his personal observations for this record, but that doesn’t take away from his overall laid back stage persona. Thus, the hour is more cleverly crafted than you might be aware of as Tate’s easygoing delivery has a certain, undeniable charm.
Listen to two tracks to hear it for yourself.
Again is available on iTunes and at Rooftop Comedy now.
A record from Chris Garcia has been a long time coming given everything he’s done leading up to it including numerous Comedy Central appearances, WTF with Marc Maron, and This American Life just to name a few.
Garcia more than lives up to expectations with this very first comedy album, “Laughing and Crying at the Same Time”.
This hour really exemplifies the fine comedic performance and craft that Garcia has honed over the years. Observational, personal, sincere, silly, structured and deconstructionist, Chris strikes a balance in almost every way imaginable here.
Please get and enjoy Laughing at Crying at the Same Time fresh from AST Records as soon as you can.
Also, you can get a vinyl release that’s due out this Summer.
On Friday, Chris Garcia’s debut album Laughing and Crying at the Same Time will be released off AST Records.
It’s an all around great record, but this specific preview clip is one of the many gems that takes the stand-up comedy trope of making fun of immigrant parents and, perhaps for the first time, switches it up. Chris does a pretty thorough, spot-on impression of his Dad and Mom roasting him.
This is one of many reasons why you should get Chris’ album later this week.
<a href=“http://rooftopcomedy.bandcamp.com/album/physical-whisper”>Physical Whisper by Josh Gondelman</a>
It’s believed by many that all comedians are a heap of depressed quasi-sociopaths that just happened to find an outlet in comedy.
Josh Gondelman is undeniable proof against that.
Gondelman maintains his identity as an optimist in his comedy while still pointing out the overlooked absurdities of every day life and being really funny about it. His sharp, clever writing, unwavering positivity, and awareness of the not-so-positive world around him make for a really great hour on his new album Physical Whisper.
Off of Rooftop Comedy’s label, Physical Whisper is out this Friday, Mar. 18th and you can get it here.
<a href=“http://natefernald.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-riviera-theatre”>Live At The Riviera Theatre by Nate Fernald</a>
Though he might have not known it at the time since he initially decided against a release, Nate Fernald one-upped the act of rick-rolling with Nate Fernald: Live at the Riviera Theatre.
Thankfully, despite his reservations at first, he has had a change of heart and released this album.
The whole album is free to listen and download off of Bandcamp.