The 10 Must-have stand-up comedy DVDs from 2010

by Punchline Magazine

If you’re here, you’ve probably seen that a few weeks ago we released our Top 10 Comedy Albums of 2010. Or maybe you were just Googling “year-end lists” and landed here. Or maybe you were searching for porn and got horribly lost. Whatever the case, we’re happy to have you.

This list is a bit different from our album list. First and most obviously, this is a list of comedy DVDs.

But, the world of stand-up comedy releases is a strange one. Sometimes comedy releases hit stores simultaneously in both audio and video format; sometimes the audio version of a release is simply the audio taken from the video; sometimes a performer records an entirely different set for the audio and for the video but with a lot of the same jokes and gives both formats the same title; sometimes an audio release comes with a bonus DVD.

The point is this: it’s nearly impossibly and, for our purposes, somewhat unnecessary to establish hard and fast rules that dictate what release makes the running for the DVD list. Basically, it’s like this: If a performer released two versions of the same-titled set, and we thought the video version was the more definitive of the the two, we took the audio version out of the album running, and placed its video counterpart into this list’s running.

Truth be told, in general we love albums a lot. More than DVDs. But we can’t ignore the existence of great DVD releases. Hence, this list.

As you noticed from the headline, we’ve stopped short of calling these the “best comedy DVDs of 2010″; but that’s mainly because of how we decided to editorialize the blurbs for each below release. Each one comes with less of a mini-review and more of a “hey, this is why you should own this DVD.”

And therefore the numbers next to each entry reflect the order in which you should buy these things. You should get all of them. But if you could only get one, you should start with #1. Makes sense, right? Right.

Enough exhausting exposition. Here’s the list. Enjoy!

#10 WHITNEY CUMMINGS – MONEY SHOT
Fast-rising comedian Whitney Cummings may very well be, in a few years, one of the strongest voices for female comedians. Beyond her solid performance on Money Shot, she’s struck no less than three television deals, is hosting MTV’s New Years celebration, and seen weekly on the incredibly popular Chelsea Lately! Put simply, you need to catch up on your Whitney if you haven’t started your schooling yet.

Buy Money Shot here.

Jokes.com
Whitney Cummings – Emotional Ninjas
comedians.comedycentral.com

#9 DAN CUMMINS – CRAZY WITH A CAPITAL F
We love Dan Cummins, plain and simple. Last year we placed his album Revenge is Near in our Top 10 list, saying that in the next year (2010) he’d be breaking out to a lot more comedy fans. We’d like to say that happened. But, dudes… let’s go; more of you need to be hopping on the Cummins choo-choo. As with most debuts, that release was largely a culmination of years of road-tested material. The sophomore slump always looms large for comedians. But Cummins was all like, “Eff that shit,” and released Crazy with a Capital F, another smart, endearing and sarcastic soaked set.

Jokes.com
Dan Cummins – Tiny Porcelain Army
comedians.comedycentral.com
Funny Jokes Funny Videos Daniel Tosh Stand-Up

#8 Kevin Hart – Seriously Funny
Sometimes you just need to laugh, right? Kevin Hart is your man. He’s not going to break any boundaries or deeply opine about the state of the world, but he is going to tell you about his wife and kids and it’s going to be funny—and physicality onstage is infections, which is why we prefer the DVD version of this over the CD. Beyond that, the dude was seen in two flicks in 2010 (Death at a Funeral and Little Fockers) and will be in no less than three more in 2011. He’s gone from headlining comedy clubs across the country to selling out theaters and forcing club promoters to constantly add shows because of the demand to see him live.

Jokes.com
Kevin Hart – Say It With Your Chest
comedians.comedycentral.com

#7 Paul F. Tompkins – You Should Have Told Me
Sure, we love just about everything Paul F. Tompkins has put out in his illustrious career, but we were super excited about the release of You Should Have Told Me, the comedian’s first live show DVD. And this, more than your typical live DVD, is an exciting one— in part, because of where it was shot, Atlanta’s incredibly intimate Laughing Skull Lounge; we’re talking 80 seats intimate! The average comedy club holds between 250-300 people; and most comedy specials are filmed in theaters that hold anywhere from 500-1,200 laughers. The venue was perfect for what is Tompkins’ most personal – and arguably his funniest –released set to date.

Buy You Should Have Told Me here

Jokes.com
Paul F. Tompkins – Buying a House
comedians.comedycentral.com

#6 JOE ROGAN – TALKING MONKEYS IN SPACE
Watching an emotionally depleted Joe Rogan onstage, struggling to find the answers to some of the world’s biggest problems is a must for any comedy fan. Sure, the CD of Talking Monkeys in Space is powerful but pales in comparison to the visual representation thereof. You need to see the veteran comic defending marijuana, talking about the child he never thought he’d have and pointing out the stupidity of people. This show has it all.

Jokes.com
Stand-Up: Joe Rogan – Free Baby
comedians.comedycentral.com

#5 BO BURNHAM – WORDS WORDS WORDS
If you had residual doubt as to whether Bo Burnham was not as much a comedian as he just was a YouTube star, his newest effort should fix that. While we suggest you get both the DVD and CD versions of this one, the DVD gives you the definitive experience. Words Words Words is, in short, a proper stage show—a one-man show, if you will. Unlike the other performances on this list, Burnham combines piano and guitar based songs, beat poetry, hip-hop and straight stand-up to deliver wall-to-wall laughs.

#4 JANEANE GAROFALO – IF YOU WILL
In her long, storied and varied career, Janeane Garofalo has never released a live stand-up comedy album, DVD or television special (that you can purchase, anyway)— until 2010. Hard to believe, but it’s true. And thankfully, Janeane came with it strong, funny and endearing in If You Will. This is a crucial piece for comedy lovers of two generations—the ones that grew up adoring Janeane (finally we have some well-produced solo footage) and the young comedy nerds who, because of Janeane’s admitted reluctance to get online, may not have deep understanding of JG.

#3 DAVID CROSS – BIGGER AND BLACKERER
Listen, at this point, you just get anything David Cross puts out. It’s as simple as that. Sometimes his output is hysterical; sometimes it’s more complainy than it is funny; sometimes its equal parts. This time around, Cross put out one of the best-rounded comedy releases of the year; Bigger and Blackerer tugs at all of your comedic senses. Theatrical, well-written, goofy, serious, angry—it’s all there. But even if it wasn’t, we’d recommend you buy it. It’s David Cross; he represents a lot of the beginning of whatever the fuck “alt comedy” is. Funny or not, he’s got a mind you need to know more about.

#2 BILL BURR – LET IT GO
Though it seemed nearly impossible for Bill Burr to outdo his last release, Why Do I Do This? from last year, he’s done it. Let it Go finds the respected comedian in top form. So, why do you need this? Besides it being hilarious from start to finish, Burr is basically every well-liked comedian’s favorite comedian. If you don’t know why, it’s time you start knowing.

Jokes.com
Bill Burr – Pro-Swine Flu
comedians.comedycentral.com

#1 MARIA BAMFORD – PLAN B
One of the most talented and unique minds in the history of stand-up comedy, Maria Bamford all-too quietly released Plan B this year, her DVD-only one-woman show. Our writer John Delery explained the performance best earlier this year: “The show succeeds because of its occasionally enigmatic and always charismatic star, a masterly mimic who with a change of pitch, one facial tic can magically recast herself in the lead roles. Without makeup or costume changes, she believably becomes her fingernail-gnawing, abrupt and blunt sister, Sarah, her grunting, snorting, wheezing dermatologist dad, Joel, and her dowdy and aggressively direct Midwestern mom, Marilyn, who supports her daughter while simultaneously yanking away her youngest child’s crutches: ‘Honey, we love you,’ Maria/Marilyn declares, ‘but you’re not welcome at home.’ It’s not that Bamford’s life is a joke; it’s that the kooky comic’s life is the joke. We cringe and laugh convulsively because we see ourselves in her plight. Instead of a biopic, consider Plan B, bioshtick, an hour-long behind-the-mind glimpse at a sensational comedian, who molds pathos and gags into memorable and intimate comic art.

Gary Gulman: All I Want for Chanukah is Christmas

by Heather Height

Nothing harkens the heart to Christmas like colorful lights, Carolers and a Jewish child’s seething jealousy. When Gary Gulman was asked, “What do you want for Chanukah?” He answered, “Christmas!” Lucky for the rest of the world, that childhood longing was scarring enough to spawn a comedy career and the recording of the album All I want for Chanukah is Christmas.

In this follow up to the very funny Conversations with Inanimate Objects album, Gary gives the listener the gift of his adroit wit and wonderfully neurotic attention to detail, while tackling the age old battle between Christians and Jews over who has the better holiday.

A nostalgia roller coaster, bringing one back to a time of wearing feet pajamas and watching holiday specials as a kid, with one bit; then giving the feeling of listening to grandpa regale you with his childhood memories with the story of the year his mom finally broke down and bought him a Christmas tree, a fake one, from Lechmere’s.

The crackling of a needle placed on the vinyl of an old record and the sound of sleigh bells bring us into Gulman’s world and, damned if I’m not a sucker for the holidays, it honestly put me in the mood for the season.

The bonus track is the admittedly maniacal and obsessive attention to fruit in the “Definitive” version of “The Grapefruit joke” That will have the listener, absolutely laughing and in a state of wonder that anyone would have that much to say about fruit, while still being entertaining. Gary Gulman’s All I want for Chanukah is Christmas belongs in everyone’s stocking this year.

To buy All I Want for Chanukah is Christmas, check out garygulman.com.

Jon Lajoie: the Punchline Mag video interview

by Punchline Magazine

Jon Lajoie is one of a handful of talented performers who’s been able to harness their online success into something huge. Since 2007, the Canadian comedian has been uploading videos for his hilarious songs on YouTube, each one garnering millions of views. He segued that into a full-length album last year, live tour and his own half hour Comedy Central special. Perhaps, most importantly, his comic chops landed him an integral role on FX’s mostly-improvised hit show The League, wherein he stars as Taco alongside other Internet-savvy comic heroes Paul Scheer and Nick Kroll.

And now he’s just released his follow-up album I Kill People as a digital download. So, we thought it was high-time we catch up with Lajoie. Punchline Magazine’s Matthew Gill — friend him on Facebook — sat down with the comedian/actor in Hollywood recently. Check out what transpired below. Enjoy.

Jon Lajoie – Punchline Magazine interview from Punchline Magazine on Vimeo.

To download I Kill People (and you should) just click the image below.

Now, let’s check out more Lajoie fun. Below is a clip of him and Nick Kroll in a scene from The League. And after, sit back and enjoy the title track from his new album.

For more info on Jon, check out his official site at jonlajoie.com.

MC Mr. Napkins: Comedy rapper’s delight

by Punchline Magazine

Jokes and raps have a lot of in common — beats, punch lines, the spoken word — but few practitioners have been able to consistently marry the two in a way that’s not hacky or downright embarrassing.

MC Mr. Napkins, aka Zach Sherwin, is an exception. He recently released his debut album, The Album, on Comedy Central Records.

It manages to urge both laughs and rhythmic head nods from its listeners, as Sherwin nimbly delivers raps on smoothies, sphygmomanometers (“If you want to be a commoner / I guess you could call it a blood pressure monitor”), a particularly aggressive bee, and so much more.

Sherwin began performing as Napkins in the fall of 2007, and in short succession he was hosting shows at the famed Comedy Studio in Cambridge, MA. I got to know Zach when he was slumming it as the musical guest for Boston’s criminally under-attended (and now-defunct) “Rob Crean Show.”

No matter how poorly the show was going, you could always count on Sherwin righting the ship with a three-song set.

Sherwin knows his way around a microphone, and verbal agility goes a long way toward separating the wheat from the chaff, the dope from the wack, if you will. But what truly differentiates Napkins from those who have failed at the joke rap game is that Sherwin himself isn’t the punch line, and neither is hip-hop.

So, what is? I chatted with Zach recently to find out. Check out the results below.

Tell me how the beats for the album came together.
I have a producer I work with, his name is Dan Fox and he produces under the pseudonym Upryz. He’s a jazz pianist and also a bass player, so he really has the music end down. And then on production we have really congruent tastes. He loves golden age mid-90’s hip-hop and I do, too, and we tried to bring that feel to some of the beats on there. I also like that he isn’t a comedian, so he was going for the beats for real, which is great. We weren’t trying to clown on the beats or anything. I think that comes through.

You mention not wanting to goof on the track. You’re actually a good rapper, whereas some things that pass for comedy rap aren’t informed by any knowledge of hip-hop. I’m wondering if you can speak to the perceptions you had to combat and what you’re going for that’s maybe different from some of the precursors.
I’m very wary of being conflated with the “yo, yo, yo, homey G” school of comedy rap. I think that stuff is just reprehensible. And the closest I come to it is “Street Cred,” but there’s a whole lineage of raps like that that are out there. (Weird Al’s) “White & Nerdy” definitely comes to mind. I wrote raps for a long time that were thugged out when I was a kid because I didn’t get it yet that I shouldn’t, and then there was a long in-between phase where I still wanted to write raps but knew that it was not rewarding to write about a made up hard-knock come-up on the streets.

So I basically was just rapping about how dope I was. And that leaves room for all the things that I like to do now, like puns and wordplay and clever punch lines. But eventually that wasn’t really good, either, because it was like, ‘Who is this guy and why does he get to rap?’ Hip-hop is very democratic and you can kind of rap about anything —Ghostface wrote a rap about the sun and more seriously Mos Def writing “New World Water.” You can take on weird topics and my hope is that the flow and rhyme schemes will be really rewarding to listen to and will establish, I hope, my bonafides as not just a guy who figured out how to do like, “buh-buh-buh, cat / buh-buh-buh, hat” — and then wrote songs about dicks.

I feel like for a lot of joke rappers, they’re the joke.
For me the comedy is not intended to be clowning on rap. I don’t want it to be, “I’m so unlikely as a rapper, and so it’s funny that I’m even attempting this.” It’s more like, these are things that I actually think are funny and I also really like writing rap songs and I’m really lucky I’ve found audiences that’ll get on board with it.

What was your experience with the comedy scene in Boston, where you started?
Ample stage time was great. I don’t want to blow smoke up his asshole one more time, but The Comedy Studio was a really important terrarium for me to do stuff. Rick (Jenkins) gave me that weekly hosting spot and then I’d do a couple other spots a month, and it just was a really good community of smart, appreciative people who gave me a lot of good feedback early on.

People like Myq (Kaplan) and Shane (Mauss), and I could name others but especially those two guys, really helped. I love both of their comedy. They are definitely two of my favorite comedians. They’re really different from each other, but they really like each other’s stuff, too. They’re sort of blazing some trails that I want to follow them on. And they’re both very, very good friends of mine.

You somewhat recently moved to L.A. Why did you make that decision and what’s the experience been like?
I was feeling a little bit stuck. I mean, I didn’t feel maxed out in Boston, I just felt like I wanted to shake things up, and my management was really excited about me and really wanted me to come out to L.A.

I took sort of a trial run out in L.A. for a few weeks and really enjoyed it, and didn’t think a lot of the East Coast hatin’ that gets done on it seemed accurate — you know, that everybody was fake and show-bizy and awful. There are great, smart ambitious comedians out here. A ton of great stuff has happened since I’ve been out there, and some of it was in the works before I got out there and some of it wasn’t, but it’s very invigorating to be in a big city where there’s a lot of comedy happening.

Give me a quick rundown of the highlights.
My album’s released on Comedy Central Records. I just shot my first talking head thing for E!; I’ve shot two music videos that I’m really excited about. I’ve established myself in the scene out here and have an awesome weekly show that I run. I did the Aspen festival, which was a fantastic experience. My college touring has ramped up an infinite amount. And I just feel like I’ve put a bunch of irons in the fire.

Who are some of your favorite artists right now musically?
I find it very easy to just listen to the acts I know and love. So I’m trying to actively not listen to as much Doom especially. I really like Das Racist, I’ve been listening to them. Their rhymes are great and they just have a really interesting viewpoint.

And they’re actually really funny, too.
They are. When I heard “Fake Patois,” that is one of those moments as a creator when you’re like, “Fuck, they nailed it, and I should have been the one.”

How about comedy-wise?
Can I just say, I’ve also been listening to old Eminem a lot lately as far as hip-hop. He’s really just doing comedy stories. [Note: Seven-minute conversation debating the relative merits of Eminem ensues.]

And as far as comedy?
Obviously Shane and Myq, blah blah blah. I really like watching Marc Maron perform. I love Chris Fairbanks, he cracks me the fuck up. I will say there’s so much good comedy in Los Angeles.

For more info on MC Mr Napkins (aka Zach Sherwin) check out his official site at mrnapkins.com. To download his new album, just click the image below.

Steve-O: The biggest Jackass in stand-up comedy

by Punchline Magazine

By Josh Evans

You know Steve-O as the skinny, affable guy who seems the most eager of the Jackass crew to shove things into his body. But comedy fans are going to have to get used to him on the nation’s comedy stages. The man has just announced a country-wide stand-up comedy tour and if he has anything to say about it, this will not be a one-time thing.

We recently chatted with the Jackass, himself about how he’s paying his stand-up comedy dues, his new show and book and much more. Check it out!

If you look at the trajectory of most comedians’ careers, they generally start with stand-up and then move into TV and movie work (if, at all), but for you it’s the other way around. Why are moving into stand-up now?
Well, I first started doing stand-up like four years ago, so it’s not entirely new for me. I guess in short, I can say that breaking bones and shoving things up my ass isn’t getting any easier; I’ve been really consciously making an effort to evolve into more traditional comedy. Also I think that with stand-up comedy, being able to relate personal experience is pretty important. I think that jokes tend to be a lot funnier when there’s an element of truth to them, and my life has been utterly ridiculous.

I also think it’s important to not take yourself too seriously, and that’s something I’ve always been pretty good at, so I really just feel like stand-up makes sense for me. So I relate personal experience that’s just really ridiculous. I think everything about my situation is ridiculous, and it really lends itself to comedy. So I’ve been working on it really hard, man, and I understand that a lot of people are wondering what the fuck I’m doing in comedy clubs, but I’m there, man, and it’s my intention to really prove myself as a stand-up comic. I can assure people that come to see me that I’ll be doing stand-up as well as some wild and stupid stuff. Overall, I think everyone’s going to be pretty pleased regardless of what they come for, and I think that I’m going to really surprise the people who are doubting me as a comic.

So it’s obviously really important to you to keep the fan base that you have but also increase that to people who like more traditional stand-up?
Yeah, that’s exactly right. I did six shows in Marco Island; that was my first like truly professional engagement, and it just went super well, man. I’m so stoked.

That’s good to hear.
Yeah, I’m up to like 30 minutes of material, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

So you’re still working on new material for shows?
Yeah, always. I don’t think anybody ever stops working on material, you know? It’s almost impossible not to.

Is there anyone you see in stand-up comedy that you take inspiration from or anyone that you personally enjoy?
Well, I hate to sound like a namedropper, but the one guy who’s really helped me lately is Dane Cook. A few months ago, I stumbled into an interview that Dane Cook was doing. I met him, and I told him that I wanted to get into more conventional comedy, and he said, ‘Yeah dude, come by the LA Improv, and I’ll put you up.’ And we set a time and it gave me about a week, and I spent that whole week just writing my ass off, and I had like sessions with like four different comics I know to go over what I had written. I went to an open mic night like two nights in a row, and then I went and I met Dane Cook at the LA Improv and went up two comics after Sarah Silverman and immediately before Dane.

(ed. note: Steve-O unofficially began his tour at Carolines in NYC earlier this year; check out the video below).

Then right after Dane got off we sat down together, and he gave me notes, and I remember being pretty pleased. He said, ‘I’m not sending you back to the drawing board.’ That was a really good, a really promising, thing, and then after that, I remember—that was on a Thursday night I think, or Wednesday night—and that weekend we were at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, and we did the same thing. It’s just so killer, man.

But who do I love, man? Joe Rogan I think is really great, and I think that maybe more than other people I would compare the style of jokes that I tell maybe more to Joe Rogan, just because what I’ve seen from him is generally pretty vulgar. I’m not even trying to pretend that my shit’s not filthy and vulgar. I’m calling my tour the “Too Much Information Tour.” I was over on the Howard Stern Show promoting Jackass 3D, and I told him that I’m really doing this stand-up comedy, and I remember telling Howard Stern, I said, ‘Dude, get me a gig here in New York.’ This is just over one month ago, and I wound up Friday night at the Comedy Cellar and that went great too. I don’t know, man, there’s like different people, all these club owners like Jamie [Masada] — from the Laugh Factory and — over at the Comedy Cellar. They’ve been real happy with what’s going on.

It’s pretty crazy too. The shows I did on Marco Island – because my shit is fucking filthy, like if I were to tell you about the kind of jokes that I’m telling, it’s just like a lot of really graphic descriptions of how crooked my dick is as a result of jacking off and how fast… I basically just paint a picture of me as a fucking filthy man whore who performs really shittily in bed and it’s just crazy. When you’ve got some notoriety like Jackass has afforded me, it’s just ridiculous how women out there will put out for you.

And my life, I’m just truthful about my life. On Marco Island, I did these shows, and at my last show, there was this couple that was celebrating their 40th anniversary, and when I saw them cracking up the whole time I was like, ‘Man, this shit is really working.’

So is there’s anything you wouldn’t talk about onstage?
No, I really just let it ride. If it’s funny, then I’ll share it. I have yet to talk about the time that tranny sucked my dick, but that’s just waiting to come out.

Well, you know, if it gets laughs…
So much of my career has really been like a full frontal delivery effort to rid the world of homophobia, so why wouldn’t I want to talk about the tranny sucking my dick?

So is there a message in your comedy?
I don’t know. I feel like if people show up and come to my show kind of doubting or wondering what it’s gonna be like, I think that they’ll leave thinking, ‘Alright, there’s really nobody else out there that could have told those jokes.’ What I bring to stand-up comedy is just unique. It’s my experience. I think there’s a lot of curiosity about what I have to say about a lot of the things people have seen me do on television and in movies. It’s not all just about coming real fast and having a crooked ass dick, you know. A lot of it is; it’s exploiting fame and some social commentary on this fucked up society we live in, the downward spiral that we’re in.

If you keep planning on pursuing comedy, is there any future with another Jackass movie?
I wouldn’t be surprised, man. I know that everyone’s pretty intent on doing it. I’m not ruling it out. I’m not saying I’m doing it.

You did say you can’t do that kind of shit forever.
Right, right.

But stand-up comedy you can do for years and years.
Yeah, I’m definitely putting my real time and effort into the stand-up right now. And I’d love to not have to do the Jackass shit anymore, but I’m obviously not quite there yet.

So it’ll be an easy transition for people that follow you?
Definitely, and I’m mindful that certain people are gonna come see me because of what they know me for, and at this point I definitely feel like I owe some antics to those people beyond just stand-up.

Is the ultimate goal to change your image and become a traditional stand-up?
I don’t think changing my image, but like I evolve in my art. But it’s not like I’m going to be finding different shit funny, you know. I don’t think I’m changing my sense of humor at all.

You’ve famously went to clown college. Do you take any inspiration from that for your shows?
Sure, man. I didn’t get a contract with the circus, which we were all sort of competing for at clown college. All I came away with was bitching-ass bar tricks. And there’s definitely a portion of my routine that I’ll be doing onstage that’s devoted to helping the unemployed drunk alcoholics— training them in the ways of drinking for free for the rest of their lives in bars. That’s like something that’s pretty huge, because I remember when I learned these secrets at clown college, that’s what it was, it was how to drink for free for the rest of my life once I didn’t get a contract. Man, that shit kept me drunk for years.

So is there anything else that people should know about the future of your career?
I’m working on a book that’s set to come out in June of next year. I don’t know if people really need to know that. I’m going to be filming with this production company that’s working with me to develop a television series. And the concept of that would be do to, it’s basically to just go around and spending five and six days in each of the locations that I go to on this comedy tour. I feel like it would be criminal not to get like an episode of the television series out of each location.

And the way I picture doing it at this point is to set up a fairly massive cattle call audition for people to come to, and I’ll sort of be sitting at the table checking out what people want to do, you know, almost an American Idol meets Jackass kind of format. Because everywhere I’ve ever gone since Jackass started, there’s always been people saying, ‘Yeah man, you guys are pretty crazy, man, but I know this guy, he’s crazier than shit, man, you gotta put him on your show.’

And I just feel like it just makes sense. I want to see what people have in the way of unusual talents and stunts and like ideas for gags, you know, and I’ll have like plenty of ideas of my own. And where it’s impossible for me to go around doing a lot of the man on the street stuff without getting recognized, it’ll be a lot of fun for me to deploy different dipshits and send them into various traps and just do all kinds of shit. It’s just going to be a lot of fun, man. I’m gonna raise hell everywhere I go, and I just sort of, with life on the road and the hell that I raise, it’s gonna make for a really compelling television series.

Are any of your live shows going to be recorded for either TV or DVD?
I think that it makes sense to do that at some point, in the not too distant or somewhat distant future. Like I said, what I’m comfortable with at this point is like 30 minutes, and that’s kind of been growing pretty quickly. I don’t know, we’ll see what happens, but I think that’s going to be a natural step in the process.

For more info on Steve-O and to check out his complete tour schedule, check out his official site.

The 10 Best Comedy Albums of 2010

by Punchline Magazine

We’re quite excited to post this– our annual list and guide to Punchline Magazine’s favorite comedy albums of the year. A few notes before we get started: First, a lot of comedy releases these days are produced as television specials first, then released as albums, DVDs or both. So that begs the question: What makes a release eligible for the album list and what makes a release eligible as a DVD? We ask this, also, because, as you may know, we’ll also be coming out with a DVD list this year– we’re calling it the “The 10 Must-Have 2010 Comedy DVDs.” Obviously, if a comedian’s project is released just as an album (no other medium), we’ve considered it for this list. In the case of our DVD list, we’ve had to make a few calls; for instance, some DVDs released with audio versions were simply more definitive with the visual element in tact.

So as you read through this list you may think, Are they crazy? “Comedian Joe” came out with an album this year and it was amazing! It didn’t make their list? And that’s OK. There’s a decent chance we’ll be honoring that CD release on our DVD list– if, in fact, it was released on DVD. Or maybe we just didn’t think it was as good as the following albums.

Enough exposition. Here they are: Punchline Magazine’s 10 Best Comedy Albums of 2010:

#10 – GLENN WOOL – LET YOUR HANDS GO
Canadian comedian Glenn Wool is a man of contradictions. He’s a mess – drugs and booze are part of his daily diet – and yet his theories on everyday life and his deeper philosophies on religion and government come from a mind seemingly more lucid than our political leaders. But that doesn’t mean Wool, who sounds like a stoned-out Bobcat Goldthwait, can’t just chill out and wax silly about the mundane. As such, his album Let Your Hands Go is a well-rounded collection of bits. Although it was recorded at Chicago’s Lakeshore Theater (RIP), it’s feels like you’re listening to a brilliant drunk holding court in a smoky bar. You buy the drinks and Glenn will keep your head filled with hilarious delight. Buy Let Your Hands Go

#9 – RYAN SINGER – HOW TO GET HIGH WITHOUT DRUGS
“Although less incendiary than the explosive Lenny Bruce and more homespun than the irascible Bill Hicks, Ryan Singer nonetheless shares DNA with those great comic commandos,” Punchline Magazine’s John Delery wrote in our January review of Singer’s album. “Singer seemingly lobs softballs instead of hand grenades when deftly and cleverly deriding hypocrites, homophobes and bigots. But just because he camouflages his contempt in sarcasm does not make him any less of a provocateur than his predecessors.” And Singer is just plain fun, especially when he commits to character work and wordplay. Buy How to Get High Without Drugs [Explicit]

#8 – SHANE MAUSS – JOKES TO MAKE MY PARENTS PROUD
It sounds obvious, but sometimes you want a comedy album to make you laugh — no reflecting, little thinking… just something that makes you laugh from your core. And Shane Mauss’ Jokes to Make My Parents Proud fits the bill. Whether he’s talking about trying to have anal sex with his girlfriend, the difference between drunk” and “wasted” or, yes, farting, the Wisconsin-bred comedian is engaging with his slow, deliberate delivery and his impossibly endearing man-boy charm. Comedy fans should always have a well-rounded laughfest of an album on the ready. And this is the one to have in 2010. Buy Jokes To Make My Parents Proud [Explicit]

#7 – W. KAMAU BELL – FACE FULL OF FLOUR
Though not everyone knows it quite yet, San Francisco-based W. Kamau Bell is one of our country’s most adept racial and political commentators; he has a blistering wit and a willingness to say what you quickly realize you’ve always thought. He’s relentlessly intelligent, fusing references to create a rich expression of incredulity in a post-Obama world. Note to working comedians: Despite what’s been said time and again, it’s possible to make fun of our current president and mean it. Kamau is an Obama supporter but deftly takes the piss out of him when necessary. And all of that is there for us to play – and replay – on Face Full of Flour, a masterful, thinking man’s album. Buy Face Full of Flour

#6 – MIKE DESTEFANO – OK KARMA
Not only did late-blooming comedian Mike DeStefano put out one the best albums of 2010, he proved that the landscape of stand-up comedy is changing. The fact that a cringe comic like DeStefano could tackle religion on prime-time network television, get tons of laughs and land in the Top Five finalists on Last Comic Standing means the comedy-consuming masses are looking for something a bit deeper these days. (We’d like to think so, anyway) On OK Karma, DeStefano says, “People say I talk about dark stuff. I talk about real fucking life.” That about sums it up. This album is a must-get for any comedy fan with the urge to explore beyond the superficial. Buy OK Karma

#5 – MYQ KAPLAN – VEGAN MIND MELD
We featured Myq Kaplan at the end of last year as a comedian you need to follow in 2010. And having finished in the top five of the latest installment of Last Comic Standing, a lot of people followed his rise this year. His album Vegan Mind Meld is a delight for anyone who enjoys a lot of laughs per minute and a lot of brains. Our writer John Delery described Kaplan’s performance on Vegan Mind Meld best, earlier this year: “Kaplan, a nasally, nebbishy, naughty but not bawdy comic, the kind of diminutive guy who in school probably defended himself with his disarming wit, skillfully arranges words into an assortment of impressive jokes on an array of mostly serious topics.” Buy Vegan Mind Meld – Live At Comix!

#4 – JOE DEROSA – THE DEPRESSION AUCTION
There’s nothing ironic about the title of Joe DeRosa’s album. So if you’re not into finding the laughs in an otherwise bleak and exhausting world view, you’re not going to like The Depression Auction. Your loss. In addition to placing this gem of an album on our Top 10 list, we’re going to give it the unofficial title of “Most Cathartic of the Year,” as DeRosa purges from his cluttered and self-destructive mind everything he hates about himself (and there is much) and the people around him. We’re glad people like DeRosa exist; like the Marons, Burrs and Stanhopes of the world, DeRosa humanizes imperfection and in doing so, makes us feel a little bit better about ourselves. Buy The Depression Auction [Explicit]

#3 – KYLE KINANE – DEATH OF THE PARTY
Don’t you just love a cuddly, hard-drinking misanthrope with low self-esteem? We do. Or, at least, we love Kyle Kinane, creator of the album Death of the Party, a shining example of all that is great in stand-up comedy. Released by A Special Thing, the hour-plus performance is a collection of the Chicago native’s absurd theories, twisted commentary on decidedly untwisted things (Trader Joe’s, bunnies, etc…) and somewhat bittersweet reflections on the major decisions he’s made in life. Sometimes purely goofy, at other timed downright depressing, Kinane is always funny and poignant. Kinane is the death of the party, and that’s fine with us. Most parties suck. Buy Death of the Party [Explicit]

#2 – HANNIBAL BURESS – MY NAME IS HANNIBAL
“If Steven Wright, Mos Def and Dave Chappelle had a baby, that would be disgusting, but it would sound like Hannibal Buress.” That’s how Chris Rock succinctly describes what this 27-year-old Chicago native is capable of. The former Saturday Night Live scribe and current 30 Rock writer has proven that all the hype behind him in 2010 was not just a smoke screen for a completely average comic. Not one to delve deep into the human condition, Buress creates comedy solely to tickle your funny bone — in his jokes he aspires to kick a pigeon; he finds use for pickle juice and for Christmas, he buys himself prosthetic metal arms because you “have to be prepared for whatever happens in life.” Buy My Name is Hannibal

#1 – ANTHONY JESELNIK – SHAKESPEARE
For the past few years, critics and comedy nerds alike have touted Anthony Jeselnik as something of a rising star. And we can’t disagree. Since 2006, we’ve watched the former Late Night With Jimmy Fallon writer grow; sets on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend, HBO’s Down and Dirty with Jim Norton, Conan, Kimmel, Daly, his own 30-minute Comedy Central special and more served as a piecemeal introduction into the crisp, darkened mind of the Pittsburgh native.

This year, we got confirmation of what we thought all along: Despite his relatively young age (he’s 31 as of this writing), Jeselnik is one of the best joke writers in comedy. His album Shakespeare is that confirmation. From start to finish, he delivers pristine, precise and economical bits with the polish of a 20-year stand-up veteran. There was a lot of solid comedy released this year; but no other album gave us as rich an experience as Shakespeare. Buy Shakespeare [Explicit]