Ian Bagg
It Takes a Village
Stand Up! Records
By Austin L. Ray
It Takes a Village is an interesting table-turn on the typical heckler-performer dynamic. Typically it’s the person on the stage versus the unruly denizens watching said person. Here it’s almost like Bagg’s the heckler.
Greg Barris
Shame Wave
ASpecialThing Records
By Austin L. Ray
Barris is a grade-A examiner of the human condition, finding its peculiarities and mining them for the humor that is so often present but not always easily articulated.
Eddie Izzard
Live at Madison Square Garden
Anti- Records/Largo Comedy
By Austin L. Ray
Too often, Izzard feels like he’s having a conversation for himself, by himself—more like he’s actually struggling with What It All Means as opposed to mining it for laughs.
Rob Delaney
Live at the Bowery Ballroom
Self-Released
By Austin L. Ray
Outright, blush-inducing filth is present on Live at the Bowery Ballroom. If the pornographic omnipresence sounds a little overwhelming, that’s because it is, but worth it.
Bill Burr
You People Are All the Same
Netflix
By Austin L. Ray
Its mix of Everyman nonchalance and obvious intelligence walks a confident line between the high- and lowbrow. The catch, of course, is that it’s not always the most clever stuff.
Glenn Wool
I'll Ask Her
Stand Up! Records
By Austin L. Ray
The unpredictability is great, because it allows him to go off the rails on a whim, but you get the feeling that if he tightened up his act, it would be one of the best going right now.
Dan Telfer
Tendrils of Ruin
A Special Thing Records
By Austin L. Ray
Whether it’s a four-minute slow burn or a 30-second setup/punchline format, his strongest material hits in the delightfully bookish, “write what you know” territory of the sciences.
Todd Barry
Super Crazy
Comedy Central
By Austin L. Ray
If it seems kinda random, that’s because it is, but the reward is in the delight of seeing where Barry’s mind takes a commonplace incident.
Ernie Kovacs
Percy Dovetonsils...thpeaks
Omnivore Recordings
By Austin L. Ray
Perhaps unsurprisingly, thpeaks serves its purpose less as a hilarious, long-playing album that will inspire frequent listens and more as a collectible relic of comedy history.
Hannibal Buress
Animal Furnace
Comedy Central
By Austin L. Ray
It’s almost as if he’s a comedic guidance counselor, pointing his audience to better decisions. But at the same time, he’ll be the first to admit it’s all kind of bullshit.
Reggie Watts
A Live at Central Park
Comedy Central
By Austin L. Ray
A) what he does is so unlike what anyone else does, and B) you kinda start to sound like a fanboy even if you don’t like the material. It’s that awe-inspiring.