Road Trip Album Picks: "Thin Pig" from Todd Glass

WHAT: Todd Glass' first album of 100% stand-up
LABEL: Comedy Central Records, 2009
GOOD IF YOU LIKE: Quality modern comedy albums
WHERE TO FIND IT: Online or bust
LENGTH: 60 minutes

Comedy Central Records should be ashamed of themselves for releasing this record. That is, they should be ashamed of releasing this album as a download-exclusive. Todd Glass' superb Thin Pig is one of the best albums we've heard in the past few years. Glass' second album, this release covers material from his whole career and a gag or two first shown on his original album which nobody ever heard in the first place. (Including you, our statistics show.)

His former podcast Comedy and Everything Else does influence his material slightly, in between the bits going for big laughs are a few attempts at applause lines. For example, he has a marvelous routine about K-Mart and Target, pointing out that the former is, essentially, something of a shithole. (If you live in Los Angeles and can still find one, odds are you can verify this.) His outrage is real, and really funny if you, like Glass, understand the importance of things like clean floors. Spoiler: they're important.

My one big beef with this release is that it wasn't put in stores. Comedy Central Records releases a ton of albums, many of which may sport bigger names but this is easily one of the funniest. Also, Glass has a fantastic voice which carries well in a car, which is the most important thing about a good road trip comedy album. Aside, you know, from being great. Get this one. Oh, and it was recorded at the Tempe Improv in Arizona, in case you were curious.

Comedy Death Ray This Week: Extra Awesome Edition

This was one of those shows you just wish you could see. In the Los Angeles Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, those that braved the weather-- which wasn't that bad-- were treated to one heck of a great set.

The always delightful Chris Fairbanks held hosting duties, and did great. Really great. The musically inclined Baron Von (don't worry, we've never heard of him before either) extolled the virtues of a Christmas in Vegas when your mom and family live there, and April Richardson took a big ol' dump on Tori Amos, because, well, someone should. Jerry Minor appeared as his character "Cyber Thug," told some jokes, and sang along to a sideshow filled with raccoons-- some living, some roadkill, some taxidermy. Arguably, funnier than it sounded.

The two highlights of the night were sets by some of the best comics working today. Todd Glass killed with new material and some great stuff which you may have heard on the Comedy Death Ray Podcast last week. He also had some great sound effect/song bits which are best left seen rather than described, plus his crazy rantings from the audience tend to bring in a lot of laughs. If he comes to your town, and we've said this before, you simply must see him.

We put the same advice out to anyone given a shot to see Patton Oswalt who just flew in from Vancouver and let us all know about the trials of slowly getting old while first class is available on Alaska Airlines. Or rather, his brain slowly sabotaging himself. He also cribbed Todd Glass' CD, and did various bits on the fly with random tracks from the album to varying degrees of success. (That is to say, he didn't seem happy with it, but it was pretty damned funny.) Given the comedian's recent album, it's great to see this set of new (and possibly first-time-out) jokes, particularly with such a great group of people. And it was jam-packed too, so if you ever have the chance to come out to LA to see the show, you totally should.

This Is Funny, Watch It

Featuring Todd Glass and Jimmy Dore.

Road Trip Album Picks: Todd Glass' "Vintage Todd Glass and Other Crap"

WHAT: Collection of random material from a really funny comic/podcaster
LABEL: Self-published, mid-2000s
GOOD IF YOU LIKE: Comedy and Everything Else podcast
WHERE TO FIND IT: Second-hand CD shops. At this time ToddGlass.com is out of stock of it and the site does not presently reflect this. (We asked.)

"Hi, this is Todd Glass, thanks for buying my CD. Fifteen bucks, what a ripoff." How's that for the start of track 1? With a name like Vintage Todd Glass and Other Crap, it sounds like you're going to be getting a grab bag of stand-up, novelty songs, and what seems to be a virtual resume of a future radio personality, or rather, a Podcaster. The album starts off basically berating you if you don't like the CD, and there's a little more of that as the album goes along. To have the product criticize the audience is certainly a fun twist.

Kicking off with a number of jokes recorded in clubs, it seems that the producers hand-picked various bits which went well and fade each one in and out as they go. It's very different from most comedy CDs, which tend to be a complete performance or are bits edited to be a full hour of comedy culled from one or two performances. The first several are great. Heck, most of it is pretty funny, as is Glass, but it's just so strange to see an album that includes a multiple course meal of comedy-- it goes from stand-up to jingles and songs.

Five tracks in the middle, which comprise a "Mad About Nothing" set, seem like they were cultivated as radio spots or something you send a club promoter as a sample of what Glass' style is like. They're great, but it seems odd to include on an album like this, which was originally sold by the comic via mail order/the web.

"If four out of five people suffer from diarrhea, does that mean one guy enjoys it?"

Glass' podcast, Comedy and Everything Else, is really the logical evolution of this album. While a skilled performer and funny guy, it's clear that this guy wants to make sure you're having a good time. As such, it's good he got to scratch that itch, because this doesn't seem like a CD that would be something for frequent listening so much as it is something you pull out on a road trip or hand to your friends if they ask you who Todd Glass is.

The track "Blackout Jokes" sums up the album well-- Glass goes on about how this is a stupid, silly album and if you haven't shut it off yet that's your problem. Bravo, sir. It seems that the only way to get this right now is to find someone to loan you their copy, or if you're willing to pay through the nose on Amazon ($30 and up at press time.) Good luck finding a copy-- if you can get one cheap ($10 or less), and you're already a fan of his material, this is definitely worth a listen.

Oh-- and the packaging is pretty funny, too. On the back he calls out numerous radio stations as it reads: "Special thanks to the following radio stations for their support and air play. Some have not even played the CD yet but once they see this they might eel like they have to." Brilliant.

Shattered Glass

To promote his new album Thin Pig (which released digitally on iTunes and Amazon yesterday), Todd Glass has released this clip of him terrorizing the offices of his PR company for not promoting the release. There are few people who do hilarious unbridled violent rage as well as Glass, and this clip only further proves that (extremely NSFW dialogue).



You can get the album and preview a few clips right here.

Comedy Death Ray: I Done Seen One!

If you're a comedy fan you've no doubt either heard of Comedy Death Ray or seen the surprisingly cheap double-CD at a fine record store near you. After dragging my feet this week, I saw that Todd Glass and Jen Kirkman were on, so I went. Jen Kirkman did not show up, and we were sad. I assume. Her CD was good and we wanted to hear more.

If you haven't ever been, here's the score: it's at the Los Angeles Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, and if you want a decent seat you need to show up early. Conversely, if you want every performer to reference you, have you speak in their ass during crowd work, or make out with you, perhaps you'll want to be there late-- because you'll be sitting on the stage. As in, without a chair.

This week was hosted by Tig Notaro, a comic you may recognize as one of the cops on Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program. Tig's ability to warm up a crowd and perform is nothing short of astonishing, and while we don't want to give away all of her jokes, as mentioned above, she did totally kiss some dude in the audience as well as perform in complete darkness for several minutes. If you have the opportunity to see Ms. Notaro, take it. Pay whatever she's asking. She's worth it, particularly since it's pretty likely you've never seen her perform before.

The roster included:

• Rich Dicks (Nick Kroll + another comic whose name I unprofessionally did not get), both live and filmed character segments featuring two coke heads. Good times.
  
• Greg Barris. Next.
  
• Aziz Ansarai brought video of an upcoming-- we presume-- DVD extra for Funny People, which was indeed funny and involved people. The in-character documentary is something I'll be making sure to remind you to go watch if it shows up somewhere because if you're the kind of person who is annoyed by some of the trappings of a few comedians in particular... you're gonna love this.
  
• Angry James Gandolfini (character, didn't catch the guy's name)
  
• David Feldman, a former writer for Bill Maher, very funny. Had an Ed McMahon joke. (Too soon?) Great set.
  
• Todd Glass. Obviously, if you read this blog, you must go see Todd Glass live at least once. Highlights: doing his jokes as both Colin Quinn and Brian Regan... and the audience totally loved it.
  

The whole set lasted about two hours, and cost $5 a head. And apparently everyone in the audience decided to sneak in booze. Next time I go I'll take better notes.