Literate, witty and hyper-articulate, Christian Finnegan (who some may recognize from his weekly commentary on VH1's Best Week Ever) is proof that the "drama guy" you picked on in high school will someday have his revenge. He's smarter and quicker than you, and now he's found a career that gives him a microphone and an audience. You'll wish you had stayed on his good side.
In fact, on his first album, Two for Flinching (credit where credit is due -- at least he didn't make the title some lame play on his lame...it would have been an easy move towards "Two for Fin-ching"), Finnegan goes so far as to call out one of his former tormentors by name, rubbing the bully's face in his success and committing it to CD for all eternity (or, let's face it, until the format disappears). An adolescence chock full of name-calling and jock abuse has sharpened the comic's wit and jaded his world view, making Flinching essentially a checklist of things that annoy him.
That means the album covers everything from his hatred of the Boston Red Sox ("To this day, if I see someone with a red 'B' on his forehead, I immediately hand over my lunch money and hide under a desk. It's a Pavlovian response.") to his hatred of fireworks ("I loved fireworks, but then I turned 14, I touched a boobie and I moved on.") to his hatred of nightclubs ("The minute I hear techno music, I immediately feel like I'm at Abu Ghraib prison.").
Of course, that makes it seem like it's nothing but an album of complaining. And while there is a lot of everything-bashing going on, Finnegan never comes off as too cool for school. He's still self-deprecating enough that you forgive those instances where he goes out of his way to prove that he's smarter than you.
Otherwise, the album is fairly standard stuff. It's a lot of observational comedy and material about the differences between men and women; nothing we haven't heard before, but done with intelligence and a precision lacking from a lot of mainstream stand-up.
Though it doesn't exactly announce the presence of a new voice in comedy, Two for Flinching is consistently funny and holds up on repeat listens. It's biggest setback is that right now, Finnegan is still a little generic. His jokes are good and his delivery is sharp; it's just that his point of view is still not fully developed. Being a smart ass can only get one so far.
- Album Release Date: October 24, 2006
- Label: Comedy Central Records
