Howdy, and thanks for joining us!! On this episode of the TNB, we’re all about comedy albums… and that’s no joke!!

Waits for applause.

And waits…

Phew… tough crowd…

ANYWHO… far be it for us to deny you links for clicking!

And… allow me to say… as somebody who does two podcasts, one of which is on a more-than-weekly basis… I’ve really, really struggled finding my contribution to the notes… which has held this up as long as it has… more about that from me later!! Thanks as ever to Dan being such a rad colleague and collaborator and pal with more patience than one would reasonably hope for!! And to you… for checking this out…

If you can’t handle the video, wait’ll you get a load of the audio!! #bogmonstermusic

Dan’s Notes

Funny Stuff

Meg MacKay

Shoutout to the locals, or at least the started-out-as-locals. If we are covering comedy I wanted to make sure to give a shoutout to one of my favorite standups that I’ve seen come out of the maritimes and someone I was always super stoked to share a stage with during my stint as a fair-to-middlin-at-best open mixer, Meg MacKay. Meg originally hails from small town PEI but got their start in standup while attending university in Fredericton, eventually making the big moves first to Halifax, and later Toronto as they began to ascend the comedy scene ladder. I was fortunate enough to get to see them at mic’s in Fredericton that I would travel to and then many times around Halifax during their stint here. Meg was also one of the folks who always seemed game to do a set when I was running a show mixing comedy and live music at the original Sad Rad location here in Halifax as well, which was not necessarily every local comic’s cup of tea due to being a windowless warehouse upstairs from a radiator shop converted into a DIY music venue. Meg has since moved to Toronto to expand their standup career, and has released two great comedy albums – 2020’s “Probably A Witch” and 2023’s “Clown Baby” on top of writing for shows like 22 Minutes and appearing on stages big and small. All across the country. Meg also cohosted a great podcast that seems to be on hiatus currently called Big Gross Movies that dissected hit movies of different eras in the context of what was going on in history when they became hits, that was a must-listen for me when it was active. If we were talking comedy, there is no way that I couldn’t mention Meg as one of my current faves to come out of the local scene.

BA Johnston

A true road warrior who takes funny music very seriously, releasing 15 albums over the past 23 years or so, travelling the country relentlessly in a shitty station wagon singing songs of love for Hawkins Cheezies, the Hamilton Tiger Cats CFL team and brave purveyors of contraband cannabis. I first became acquainted with BA’s music back when I was in the employ of Halifax’s Seashorse Tavern in their original basement-level location on Argyle St, at an energetic show where a pipe carrying sewage from the fancy restaurant that just happened to run right above the dance floor and front of the stage area burst open and started raining down all over the audience and BA himself, who did not miss a single step while crooning odes to installing a deep fryer in his bedroom, and fist fighting squirrels on sight. Like Stompin Tom before him, a few different cities lay claim to BA, but Hamilton is his home base from whence he launches his many great rock and roll adventures. Like this dude is a serious entertainer who gives it his all, even when belting out the silliest songs over chintzy Casio synth beats. Seeing him jump from table to table in a cape and a captain’s hat, waving around a cane for emphasis while neon letters flashed his name onstage in a weird railroad bar with collapsing ceilings and well water on tap as part of a music festival in Sackville NB is a show you do not soon forget, especially while belting out his anthemic story-song recounting an encounter with local law enforcement while zooming on shrooms at a Van Halen concert, “Going to Jail (Except Pete)”, and his ode to all of the snacks he would buy with his next GST check. BA is a real working-class dirtbag rock hero who takes his silly songs very seriously and keeps cranking out great album after great album, and even collaborated on a children’s book about a junk-food loving seagull with former Cold Warps frontman and visual artist Paul Hammond a couple of years back. BA always gives me a good laugh every time I listen to his music and his live shows are totally not to be missed.

Atom and His Package

The Weird Al of 90’s hardcore, started out in pop punk band Fracture and then started making music with “the package”, a QY700 sequencer he used make music that sounded like classic Lookout Records pop punk as arranged for flip phone ringtone, with lyrics about starting a special punk private school since so many of his friends were becoming teachers, making friends with Norwegian black metal bands, and measuring the sheer footage of cringeworthy records in his collection. Atom was a rare dose of humour in what could be an otherwise pretty dour and serious era of the punk scene circa the late 90’s and early 00’s, and his albums on labels like Bloodlink and Hopeless all still hold up for the most part (as all attempts at humour, no matter now skilled have that even chance of aging like milk as time passes). I was lucky enough to see Atom live twice in his heyday of touring, once opening for an Alaskan black metal band and once on a showcase of solo artists where he shared the stage with an earnest singer songwriter, a harsh noise artist, a musical puppet show, and some explorations in loop-pedal-driven prog rock by the ex-bassist of the Melvins and on each show he was able to win the crowd over with his nerdy synth-punk anthems sung in a high cracking voice. Eventually he retired from full-time performing due to some health issues but Atom’s music is still something I enjoy all these years later, especially his second album  “A Society Of People Named Elihu”. Also, I will also credit him with introducing me to one of my all-time favorite bands, The Mountain Goats, through his pretty serious and sincere covers of “Going To Georgia” and “Alpha Desperation March” on his otherwise very funny  2001 album Redefining Music. Atom was funny when not a lot of people were trying to be and when discussing the humorous end of things I had to give him a mention.

Bobcat Goldthwait

Yes, that guy. With the voice. From the 80’s. The thing is, Bobcat Goldthwait was very much that guy but is so much more. Starting out in Syracuse NY in the late 70’s alongside frequent collaborator and fellow small town punk weirdo Tom Kenney (later of Mr Show fame and probably best known as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants) as joke writers for Boston-based political comic and activist Barry Crimmins (whose life was chronicled in Goldthwait’s great 2016 documentary “Call Me Lucky”). Bobcat then developed his well-known unhinged stage persona, leading to fame as a standup comic as well as parts in movies like Police Academy 2 (and later installments), Hot To Trot, and his eventual directorial debut Shakes The Clown. He also set Jay Leno’s Tonight Show set on fire during an appearance on the show, and even toured with Nirvana on what would be their final tour before Kurt Cobain took his life as the band’s frontman had long sung the praises of Goldthwait’s “Meat Bob” album. After some box office bombs in front of the camera, Goldthwait stepped behind it and began directing, first in TV and then moving to the big screen with the dark 2006 romcom Sleeping Dogs Lie, followed by 2009’s later-career Robin Williams highlight Worlds Greatest Dad and eventually moving on to found footage horror with Willow Creek and his previously documentary tribute to Barry Crimmins, Call Me Lucky, on top of directing standup specials for folks like Kyle Kinane and Marc Maron. It’s really cool to see someone who made art you loved when you were young evolve into making different art you love on other levels later in life, while still retaining the same irreverent stage-burning energy in different manifestations. We could all do so well as to age as gracefully as the squeaky voiced gang leader from Police Academy 2 I tell ya.

Chris Gethard

A true punk rock weirdo polymath who has managed to cultivate beloved following by small but beloved fanbases in his every pursuit. Originally starting out in standup as well as studying improv ot NY’s Upright citizen’s brigade, which led to the creation of his wild punk rock real-life Wayne’s World of a weekly public access TV/Youtube show, “The Chris Gethard Show”, that ran from 2011 to 2018, eventually ending up on real life cable TV for its last couple of years. You may also recognize Chris from popping up in roles on shows like Broad City and The Office in the early 2010s, or from his podcast Beautiful/Anonymous (or his other podcast, New Jersey Versus The World). Gethard has also written a few books as well on top of it all, and was even working to try and adapt his book of essays “A Bad Idea I’m About To Do” into a television series at one point (though unfortunately that one didn’t get off the ground). Chris may have started out as a standup but has moved on to so much more since then, and brings the same welcoming weirdo vibes to all of them, building this cool little communities of fans around his projects whatever they may be. I am so glad that his public access show has been preserved on a couple of different channels of YouTube as there is truly nothing like it. Imagine the Howard Stern Wack Pack crossed with the crowd at a particularly nerdy pop punk show, with themes like having viewers call in to suggest ingredients for a “smoothie” that Gethard would then drink on air, or passing a rule for the night that everyone had to speak in the style of a professional wrestling promo interview (with tips from their guest that week, indie wrestling superstar Eddie Kingston), it’s just one of those magic and weird and wonderful things that only shows up so often in any art form. His standup is great, I’ve loved his books, and his podcasts have been a chance to explore topics he finds interesting (people’s internal lives, weird facts about his home state) but I will always go back to his wild and weird and super punk rock show (especially the cable access incarnation, though the “Fight For The Fish” and “Guess What’s In The Dumpster” episodes of the actual-cable-network version were later standouts) as my favorite work of this multi-talented nerd whisperer who very much stresses his punk rock roots while honestly exploring all of the wacky and weird sides of the human experience, while also making it funny. One of my favourites in comedy for sure.

Miscellaneous

Matt’s Notes

It took some doing to get this one out the door! Personal circumstances… I actually think a week-long February holiday to offset winter doldrums & fatigue should be on a thing… so… if you ever see my name on a ballot in your city… WHICH YOU MOST ASSUREDLY WON’T… you will know my stance on said issue.

ANYWAYS…

It was also challenging because when I think about it… the comedy album isn’t something I’ve spent a ton of time with… there were those scratchy Bill Cosby LP’s in my grandparents’ basement and boy has that not aged well… but otherwise… lots of time in front of VHS copies of Eddie Murphy… Living Color… Kids in the Hall… staying up to videotape copies of KITH and Saturday Night Live… in my teen years getting an awareness of Lenny Bruce thanks to Pump up the Volume…

So… the comedy album thing is largely uncharted for me! It’s been a great reason to dive into these here titles… which I’ve more or less listened to all for the first time just prior to your reading or hearing this. Consider yourselves warned!

Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982) and

George Carlin: Life is Worth Losing (2006)

I’m putting these both in the same box for the purpose of these notes… both legends… both of the same generation… both born and died within five years of each other… you try to think of comedy in the 1970’s and 80’s especially… and who comes to mind?

This episode has been sitting on the shelf so long I’ve listened to both of these since we recorded in January… and forgotten enough of them… that I had to go back last night to listen again… to see how much I’d forgotten… for writing purposes…

Still feeling jazzed from the Chris Rock album I just listened to, I threw both of these on… again… and then folded laundry… did the dishes… had tomato soup and toast points… it was raining and snowing and then raining some more outside…

ANYWAY

Both of these gentlemen are killer at using their voices. The audio format works for both! Listening to one person talk for an hour is a feat for me…

Richard, obviously, just bleeds on the stage. But from the standpoint of storytelling he’s just knocking it out of the park… this is monumental late stand-up career Richard… it’s got the one where describes lighting himself on fire while freebasing cocaine and ending up in the hospital with serious burns…

George goes dark on this. He’s also 69 years old… and at the time of the recording two months away from his 50th year in show business. So… it really is late George… inasmuch as he lives two more years after the special… his highly verbal bits… it’s watching somebody somebody who spent more than two thirds of his life making a life doing exactly what you hear him doing here…

Two complimentary geniuses of their generation… and their formats… if you accept standup comedy as an art form… you have two of its highest practitioners… and everybody since does so in their wake…

Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love (2023)

I threw this on right after trying to get through Dennis Leary’s Lock ‘n Load.

They’re both from New England… both major… contemporary comedians… but Sarah I think… is in another stratosphere… she’s made of different stuff…

On this recording she’s in front of a Boston crowd and she’s clearly digging the shit out of the energy in the building. This is where an audio recording added value. You have imagine what the fuck is up…

Jewishness to the Nth degree… and I appreciate her for it! Which is weird-ass thing to say, but there it is! And… Sarah is raunchy as a motherfucker… masterfully so… and also out there vulnerable… I’ll be real… my notion of her as a comedian is due… at the beginning… is the fact she is straight-up gorgeous… it turns out without any visual reference point… her voice by itself is absolutely lethal…

So I’m sitting around listening to this record gobsmacked, essentially. She’s a pro at the top of her game and she’s enjoying the hell out of herself. I might have to watch this thing on Crave or whatever…

Denis Leary: Lock n’ Load (1997)

The opening bit is this whole thing about what a pain in the ass it is opening a new CD… we are squarely in the 90’s, folks!

Then the dude comes out and the first five minutes of his act are this highly visual, highly boringly unhinged lambasting of uh… Lord of the Dance!

We don’t dance like THAT… we dance like THIS… like… it’s a show going out on an audio format… and uh… no visual to go with the CD… but, beyond that… it comes off as a bro doing angry-ish stuff. The bro factor was high. Maybe it works as a visual! But as a CD… thing strictly for listening in the pre-internet era… it was a fail…

I tapped out after fewer than five minutes!

Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh (2019) / Chris Rock: Never Scared (2006)

We are deeply, significantly, and hyperbolically grateful to you for swinging by! Until next time… probably!

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Filed under: Uncategorized - @ April 5, 2024 10:37 am