Myq Kaplan: Vegan Mind Meld

by John Delery

An amalgam of mischief, sarcasm and brains, Myq Kaplan puts the “smart” in smart-ass. Proof, you demand! Just listen to Vegan Mind Meld, his astute, fun and oh so funny new CD from the label Live at Comix (in affiliation with BSeenMedia).

On this release, available on April 27, words are playthings to Kaplan. He shapes them into impish puns, or sometimes this lover of language and all joke forms connects words in ribald rhymes about heroin, cocaine, masturbation, prostitutes and religion but with Seussian glee and dexterity. (Well, the sort of mock Doc the Edison of word invention would have admired and probably envied, had he been revered for writing, say, Horton Hires a Ho…on Blow!)

Mostly, though, 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.

The unorthodox Jew-ishy atheist vegan, his description of himself, mines deep for unconventional gags about bigotry (including one about his grandmother, “who’s a little racist. Well, very racist, but small”), gay-marriage hysteria and hyperbole, and the most significant subject of all: boobies. Or are they “yaybies”? A showman, not a showoff, Kaplan uses his word power for goodness, nay greatness.

Click the image below to download the entire album.