Gallagher
I Am Who I Pretend To Be, Uproar Entertainment
Gallagher Live, Comedy Dynamics
By Nick A. Zaino III
He has always touted himself as the smartest guy in the room, pointing out the things no one else could see or had the guts to point out. But the ideas now aren’t very deep, and sometimes they are downright hostile to the idea of enlightenment.
Neil Hamburger
First of Dismay
Drag City
By John Wenzel
Figuring out what makes Hamburger so magnetic is part of the masochistic fun. Is it his carnie inflection? His abusive, unpredictable rage and profanity? His spot-on critiques of consumer culture that have made him a must-follow on Twitter? Ultimately it’s all in service of the mood he creates.
2776
Various artists
A Levinson Brothers and Rob Kutner Presentation
By Daniel Berkowitz
It’s an amazing feat that the concept album benefiting OneKid OneWorld assembled such a diverse and wide-ranging roster of talent (Dick Cavett and Margaret Cho on the same track, anyone?)
Dan St. Germain
Bad at the Good Times
ASpecialThing Records
By Elise Czajkowski
With long hair and a scraggly beard, his aggressive comedic style is complemented by a distinctive look and an endearingly self-effacing presentation. But on his first album, something is lost in the transition to audio.
Myq Kaplan
Small, Dork, and Handsome
New Wave Dynamics
By Daniel Berkowitz
Kaplan proves himself more than just a linguist deft at manipulating meaning; he’s able to take common items and everyday thoughts and concoct alternative theories that spring from a grain or two of truth and are magnificent to behold simply for the logic in which they’re grounded.
Ben Roy
No Enlightenment in Sobriety
Greater Than Collective
By John Wenzel
Roy has earned his comparisons to noted ranters Lewis Black and David Cross, who like to rip limb-from-limb the same societal idiocies and personal failings, so it’s also satisfying to listen to Roy further differentiate on No Enlightenment.
Hari Kondabolu
Waiting for 2042
Kill Rock Stars
By Daniel Berkowitz
The talent of 30-year-old New York comic Hari Kondabolu is undeniable: he’s cerebral, witty and occasionally daring. Waiting For 2042, however, is not as uniformly distinguished as its author.
Andy Sandford
Me the Whole Time
New Wave Dynamics
By Elise Czajkowski
Recorded in his hometown of Atlanta before a very energetic crowd, Me the Whole Time is everything a first album should be: packed with strong material from start to finish, filled with the type of memorable bits that will make people take notice and completely accessible to newcomers.
Karen Kilgariff
Live at the Bootleg
AST Records
By John Wenzel
Kilgariff’s a fine singer, with a wavering, vulnerable voice that falls somewhere between coffee shop balladeer and demented children’s entertainer. Her saccharine delivery complements the murky timbre of her acoustic guitar and sells the jokes against the often bleak, angry lyrics.
Bo Burnham
what.
Comedy Central Records
By Nick A. Zaino III
Burnham is very self-aware, of his image as the nerdy theatre kid who was once picked on in school, and of someone for whom fame came quickly. And he uses all of that in his show.
Rory Scovel
Live at Third Man Records
Third Man Records
By Daniel Berkowitz
He’s unapologetic about using voices, and he’s more than willing to detour around his material to play off the crowd. Those tactics make Scovel a unique talent, but it’s fair to say they might not make him the proper type of comic to record a one-off show.