PSA: Neil Hamburger's "Hot February Night" Available Again

If you missed the greatest comedy album we've heard in years, Neil Hamburger's Hot February Night, then we have some good news for you. The comic's web store has the disc up for sale for a mere $10, and let us assure you, it is worth it. Click here to check availability and click here for our review. This is not a paid plug, we just loves us this album.

Road Trip Album Picks: Neil Hamburger's "50 States 50 Laughs"

WHAT: Another tour-only CD from America's Funnyman, no audience
LABEL: Million Dollar Performances, 2000
GOOD IF YOU LIKE: Early Neil Hamburger
WHERE TO FIND IT: Good freaking luck, on tour if he still has them
LENGTH: 27 minutes

It's no secret, we love Neil Hamburger-- especially his new stuff. His earlier recordings, like 50 States 50 Laughs, use his slightly less gruff earlier persona in which he's more of a sad sack than an increasingly spiteful comedian. The theme is a joke for each state, which sometimes works out as a pun, something about the local fare, or... well, we won't spoil it all for you.

"Have you ever looked in the trash can at a Long John Silvers? It's full of pieces of fish, each with exactly one bite taken out of it, and then all these napkins rolled up into little balls and in the center of each one is the corresponding piece of chewed-up fish!"

The entire album is particularly unique in that it's a stand-up album, more or less, recorded completely without an audience. This guarantees every joke sounds like it's being delivered to an unresponsive room, which actually makes it even funnier.

Like his other work, this album is brilliant-- but in increasingly unexpected ways. This is one of few albums which criticizes itself, and is built around a pretty clever idea. Due to how Hamburger's early voice projects, it may not be the best pick for your car rides as his low voice sometimes gets drowned out by the road sounds-- but that's really dependant on what you're driving. Either way, it's an album worth checking out simply because you've probably heard very little like it.

Neil Hamburger: The Plush Doll

Today Neil Hamburger announced that Neil Hamburger plush dolls now exist. They're pretty low-rent as toys go but nearly no comedians that don't have collars that are blue do much in the way of quasi-figural merchandise, making this particularly unique. America's funnyman is available for about $20. We approve.

If we could get a USB figure that spouts out jokes, that'd just be fantastic. We'd pay up for that.

Road Trip Album Picks: Neil Hamburger's "Hot February Night"

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Comedy Death Ray This Week: CD Release Edition

There's a fine line between comedy and tragedy, and at Comedy Death Ray this week it was clear that the frankly shocking variety of material being presented could go pretty much any possible way. For the sake of brevity, we're collapsing in the I Love Movies taping in here too, as it was a large evening of entertainment where comedy was not the only thing on the menu.

I Love Movies
The great Doug Benson kicked off the evening's entertainment with a recording of his twice-monthly podcast. The guests were CDR co-curator Scott Aukerman and Mr. Skin, of Mr. Skin fame. Benson and Aukerman peppered the show with jokes and puns of all sorts, cracking each other up and generally making light of what seemed to be a cross between an interesting feature on an Internet business phenomenon and an infomercial. If you heard the appearance of Mr. Skin on the Adam Carolla Podcast the other week, it's similar to that-- although it's worth noting that the two comedians bring a lot to the table so it's worth your while to listen to the new funny.

Comedy Death Ray: Brent Weinbach Release Party
There were no surprise comedians for CDR this week, but there was indeed a surprise guest. The show focused on the release of Brent Weinbach's new album, which was performed in its entirety live with a couple of technical foibles. His new album, The Night Shift, can be had on iTunes and sports a mix of music, comedy, and... well, pretty much those two things.

• After being introduced by her brother, who pulled hosting duties as well, Laura Weinbach took to the stage. She played three songs, two with a gentleman with a violin. These were, as far as can be told, not comedy songs and generally put the brakes on what was advertised as an evening of comedy. She's very talented, it's just that this was the token "one of these things is not like the other."
  
• Next up was the always delightful Todd Barry, a soft-spoken comic that's somewhat famous but not necessarily someone you'd recognize by name. He is most certainly a funny dude, always worth catching on a talk show appearance and tonight's set was a shining beacon of fun. He did a great amount of riffing on opening for the headliner, with sharp barbs about who's more famous than who. It may come off as sounding a little mean-spirited, but let me tell you, this was good times.
  
• A star in our pantheon of comedy gods followed with the great Neil Hamburger, whose set riffed on some quasi-current events and T.G.I. Friday's. As always, the man's delivery is impeccable and our party was rolling in the aisles. Looking around the room, some people didn't seem to totally love it, but let us assure you that those people were wrong. It was a fantastic set and I wish I had an MP3 of it to share with you, or to re-listen to myself again. The last time I saw Mr. Hamburger was five years ago at a fundraiser in Phoenix and it was just as awesome tonight. Bonus points for coming up with new Michael Jackson material.
  
• Finally, Brent Weinbach came on to perform roughly an hour-long set which was his entire album, The Night Shift. There were fake phone calls, straight comedy bits, a few characters, and for some reason, music that does not seem to be remotely comedic in nature. It's a little jarring at a comedy show as it comes off less like a traditional set of stand-up and more like a one-man show. Our party's reaction was mixed, but the audience seemed to like most of it, including Weinbach's conducting a fart orchestra as played by the audience. Depending on your funnybone, this could be the best thing you see all year or not. This was clearly more experimental than the usual comic/comic/comic sets we're used to, and the set was not entirely comic material.

There were a few walkouts over the course of the evening, but "few" is the key word. For all we know someone was having a baby. So there you have it! We loved Neil and Todd, and as always we suggest researching these performers and seeing if you might be missing out on something fantastic.