2009 was a terrific year for stand-up comedy albums, both from established greats like
Patton Oswalt and
Jim Gaffigan as well as from younger comedians announcing themselves on the scene. These five newcomers had the best debut releases of 2009. I can't wait to see where they go from here.
© Comedy Central RecordsThe debut album from 26-year old comedian and
Saturday Night Live writer
John Mulaney is an incredibly polished and assured collection of stories and musings on everything from drag queens to the differences between
The Godfather and
Scarface (it's like lobster and Skittles, he suggests). A routine on
Law & Order makes the album worth listening to alone, but luckily there's not a weak bit in the bunch. It's a great first record, and one of the most consistently funny you'll hear this year. I can't wait to see what Mulaney will do next.
2. Matt Braunger: 'Soak Up the Night'
© Comedy Central RecordsIn a more just universe,
Matt Braunger would have the career of
Dane Cook. He's got the same manic energy, the same penchant for volume explosions and the the same interest in the random and the absurd. The major difference is that Braunger's material is well-written and funny, and his over-the-top performance style is used to accentuate his jokes and not cover for them. On his first album,
Soak Up the Night, Braunger (who, to be clear, owes nothing to Cook) riffs on ideas from poorly-themed ice cream parlors to partying to Taco Bell and "bed calzones" to owls to his commercial for Summer's Eve. He jumps from bit to bit and barrels through it all, and the results are breathless and hilarious. (Available as a digital download via
iTunes)
3. Whitney Cummings: 'Emotional Ninja'
© New Wave DynamicsGiven the sheer abundance of material on Whitney Cummings' debut album -- 33 tracks in all -- you might think she recorded every bit of comedy she's written. And while Emotional Ninja is uneven and too long by half, the bits that do work put a lot of the year's other comedy albums to shame. Cummings is still honing her foul-mouthed guys'-girl persona on the album, but comes up with enough dark humor and solid one-liners (she's joke-heavy instead of concept-heavy) to make this one of the year's most promising debuts. If she can trim the fat on her next album, I think Cummings has the potential to deliver a minor classic. I'm looking forward to that day.
© Comedy Central RecordsMusical comedy that doesn't wear out its welcome after a few songs is a tough thing to pull off, so I give credit to 19-year old
Bo Burnham for creating a debut album that's funny all the way through. Better yet, the album doesn't just hold up to repeat listens; it downright begs for them. That's because Burnham's songs -- covering topics that range from how his parents believe he's gay to dating Helen Keller to imagining Hitler as a young man -- are as fast as they are funny. Burnham's lyrics are dense with jokes and wordplay and fly by as he sings or raps them, meaning you're pretty much guaranteed to miss a bunch. It's a confident debut for such a young comedian, and one that rightly announces a terrific new talent on the scene.
© WEA/RepriseThough Dan Cummins isn't always hitting home runs on his first album, Revenge is Near, when the album works it really works. Inspired by the absurdist observations and one-liners of the late Mitch Hedberg, Cummins crams a lot of out-there jokes and covers a lot of ground on his first album -- everything from Sasquatch to serial killers to Scientology. More than just offering a number of big, demented laughs, however, Revenge is Near (the title comes from a potential greeting card, and might be my favorite joke on the album) announces the presence of a distinct voice in comedy. That's not an easy thing to do right out of the gate, but it's the reason Cummins belongs alongside the other comics on this list.
