Given Maron’s history of exploiting his life in his comedy, the honesty on display in Attempting Normal isn’t surprising, but the frankness is still striking.
It’s a brave choice to venture outside his comfort zone as part of this grand experiment; his immense talent means that even though taboo-busting isn’t the best use of his storytelling skills, the album is still very funny.
Most jokes on the album could be described as absurdist one-liners, many adapted from tweets. He has a particular weakness for meta-spins on old classics and enjoys odd references.
A laid-back comic who tends to pause between jokes, she didn’t build the momentum necessary to sustain. An hour of solid jokes is an achievement in itself, but it’s not always enough to carry certain situations.
Through stories about internet addiction and hatred of parties, her clear discomfort within the setting provided an accidental theme of social uneasiness that gave her set a cohesion it might have otherwise lacked.
The secret to Scovel’s success may be that his prepared material is clever enough to stand on its own.
When crowd work is pulled off, it brings an electricity to the room that prepared material can rarely match. When it doesn’t, even great standups can struggle to recover.
She clearly has a funny mind and a ton of potential. In fact, what Sweet Beth needs is more from her—more development in her stories, more imagination, and ultimately, more laughs.
The Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival may have begun life as an off-hand joke, but over the last five years it has become a legitimately respected festival, this year pulling in superstars, international acts and local legends.
A lot can change in nine years. It’s hard to say whether this material was fresh when it was first released, but now it feels decidedly stale.
(Paradisiac Publishing)
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