Wednesday, October 31, 2007
The best comedy album I've heard in years
If you enjoy really harsh comedy that makes you laugh until you cry -- and I do -- you really have to listen to Greg Giraldo's Good Day to Cross a River
2 Comments:
By 
, at
Wed Oct 31, 03:34:00 PM:
Through the magic of Usenet, I had this puppy downloaded and playing within minutes.
For evaluation purposes only, of course.
Great tip, TH, thanks. Lots of fun. The guy's hysterical, like you said. One of my favorite lines happened right at the beginning:
"And the other two dudes give you nickels."
The rant about wives was outstanding, and the one about 'bitches' was even better.
Decorum prohibits me from any quotes. :)
Observations:
1. The guy's a flaming liberal. The items he lambasted were like reading down a Republican Talking Points list.
2. The most telling point with the audience came with the second mention of Christians. I note that there is a distinct difference between laughter and applause.
The first time, he said something like, "Those Christians sure cause a lot of trouble," and the audience dutifully laughed.
Then, a while later, he was talking about the girls on the Jerry Springer-type talk shows bragging about how they didn't know the father of their baby, etc, and he said:
"And I'm not judging these girls morally, I'm really not, because I do a lot of immoral shit, believe me, but I lie about it and I cover it up because...
because I'm a Christian..."
and the audience first laughed, then broke into heartfelt applause. It brought into sharp relief how Christians can be viewed negatively from a political light, but when it comes to morals and decency, most Americans feel themselves to be 'Christian' in its more general sense.
Imperfect Jews will have to fend for themselves. :)
But what was really telling was that he was actually planning on mocking Christians when he said it, but the rest of his joke fell flat as the applause overrode him. It was really an interesting moment.
3. I got the distinct feeling when he told some of his more politically-incorrect jokes that the audience was hesitant to laugh too loudly. Like, they didn't want the person next to them to think they were homophobic or raceophobic or wifeophobic or kidophobic or-, well, you get the idea. Assuming the audience was primarily in their 20's and 30's, this would make sense. These people have been steeped in political correctness since birth. I'm sure many of them later described the performace as "uncomfortable."
Speaking of which:
"I was going to do that bit on the Letterman show, but they wouldn't let me because they said it was a simplistic view of dyslexia and might offend a lot of people. Like they're gonna write letters."
I'd place him in the same (exalted) category as Gallagher and Steven Wright. They all have a real talent for thinking outside the box. Fun post, and thanks again.
By , at
Fri Nov 02, 12:50:00 AM:
And what would happen to this wacko if he mad a album about islamic extremists that made them as clownish baffoons
