Rating:
Genre:
Spoken Word
Release Date: 10/12/2004
With its knowing
Mort Sahl-era album title and cover photo,
The Absurd Nightclub Comedy of Eugene Mirman is a deliberate return to the glory days of the
standup comedy LP, those records that were hipster totems in the hi-fi days and a constant presence in
Goodwill bins since.
Mirman, a Russian-born, Boston-based comedian, isn't a throwback to the comedians of that era, but nor does he really fit in with the politically-charged likes of contemporaries such as
David Cross or
Janeane Garofalo; instead, he's sort of the
indie rock equivalent of pre-stardom
Jerry Seinfeld or stoner-era
George Carlin: his observational humor is mostly born out of his everyday life (one of the funniest routines on the album is
"Fleet," detailing his increasing frustrations with a screwed-up credit card account, and his early days as a Russian-Jewish immigrant in
Ronald Reagan's America informs much of the material), but he's also a gifted verbal satirist in the
Carlin tradition, best shown in the sidesplitting
"Shapes for Sale" (slogans for geometric figures in the manner of those odd ad campaigns for beef or dairy foods, such as "Square: The Other Rectangle" or "Triangle: Hot Three-Way Action!") or a brief bit on challenging people who parrot made-up statistics.
Mirman's a verbal comedian whose material doesn't lose much when you can't see him, making him a natural for the unfortunately largely moribund comedy album genre.
~Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
;)
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