As if his own comedy background wasn't impressive enough - former editor at The Onion and executive producer of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report - Ben Karlin has drafted in some comedic heavyweights to contribute to his book 'Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me'.
Like who, you ask? How's about Patton "The Wizard of" Oswalt, David Wain, Mr. Colbert himself, Bob Odenkirk, Nick Hornby, Larry Wilmore, SNL's Will Forte, and a few other comedians of whom I hadn't heard. Oh, and Karlin's mother provides a preface, charmingly entitled "I Think My Son Is A Catch". Apparently, the print version of the book has more stories than the audiobook, which is what I enjoyed, so hunt that down, completists!
The essayists are now in place, and the theme is made pretty clear by the title. So, is it any good? Like any collection - it is and it isn't. There are plenty of big laughs - Karlin's own essay is angry and funny, Patton's is about dating a stripper, Dan Savage's is the filthy (I know, right? Him?) story about how he progressively turned gay, Jason Nash talks about his own complete unlikeability and Colbert's wife heavily edits his contribution. Nick Hornby himself couldn't read his essay, so fellow Brit John Oliver provides the voice, which is just as appropriate, since the subject matter concerns Blitz-era London. And David Wain, who I've never much cared for - his effort is capital G great - if you've ever had an unreliable friend, you'll enjoy it.
At times the stories were sad, pathetic, desperate and once or twice, sort of pertinent. Everyone feels rejection, betrayal, disappointment - and apparently, some positive emotions too? - and these are usually softened by the laughs. (Larry Wilmore's piece, about his newborn daughter is very sweet, and sticks out a little in this collection). A couple of the writers didn't really have much to say and went for the "It's a guy's book, so let's be graphic with the body parts" approach, but that's ok. You need some balance. Even the story that is helpfully entitled "Don't Come On Your Cat" is, against all odds, sort of charming.
'Things I Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me' is an easy read/listen, and will give the guys (and the girls) plenty to chuckle over during this turbulent time.
Thank you, and good night.
Reason and practicality are mean
We spraypaint honky-lips on their garage door
As you probably know, I talk about The Best Show on WFMU a lot on these pages. So, it was very nice to see that sites far more popular than mine gave the WFMU marathon some coverage today. I asked you to pledge a few days ago, and there's still time, people!
The show had Ted Leo, Patton Oswalt and Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Postal Service) in the house, and they brought the noise. Patton's "Famous Flamer from Fresno" had me laughing so hard, I almost woke up a housemate.
There were cover versions. Watch videos here.
I made an mp3. It's below. Enjoy. And pledge, you creeps!
[download Ted Leo, Ben Gibbard, Tom Scharpling and Patton Oswalt - Take A Chance on Me]
[download Ted Leo - Chain Fight Tonight] - BONUS COVER OF THE GORCH. HOW'S ABOUT IT!
Your computer was out of oil
Comedy Album of the Year: Scharpling & Wurster - The Art of the Slap
As a (literally) card-carrying member of the Friends of Tom, I can't be entirely objective about 'Art of the Slap', but suffice to say, it's S&W's most expansive and best compilation yet. Although 'Andy from Newbridge' is a little too gimmicky, the rest of it is genius, including a very angry postal worker/James Blunt fan; extreme cinema's Trent L. Strauss (who you may remember for directing 'You're Soaking in Her'); Horse from Jock Squad, and culminating in an epic, two part installment of "Mother 13: First band to play Mount Everest". Buy it now, youse creeps.
Elsewhere, it was a strong year for comedy albums. I enjoyed Patton Oswalt's 'Werewolves and Lollipops' for his combination of political disgust, pop cultural disgust, nerdiness, and his handling of a heckler during an otherwise sweet story about abortion. Maria Bamford, the only Comedienne of Comedy who came off respectably when I saw the documentary, put out a solid album called 'How to Win!' where her insecurities and different voices came to the fore. Despite his presence on 'Best Week Ever', a show I can't stand, I really liked 'Impersonal' by Paul F. Tomkins. There's no intro or outro, and a great story about goths. What's not to love? Meanwhile, all three of the above, plus others were featured on the compilation, which was ace, particularly Andy Daly's bit where he doesn't really tell any jokes, and Mindy Kaling's story about retarded people. Comedy Death Ray. Finally, Michael Ian Black's album 'I Am A Wonderful Man' was funny, too, although he was involved in the weirdest part of 'The Ten', so he gets a slight scowl from me.
[download Scharpling & Wurster - Philly Boy Roy (excerpt)]
[download Maria Bamford - Alicia Keys]
[download Michael Ian Black - Gay?]
[The Best Show on WFMU myspace / official site]
[Patton Oswalt myspace / official site]
[Maria Bamford myspace / official site]
[Paul F. Tomkins myspace / official site]
[Comedy Death Ray myspace / official site]
[Michael Ian Black myspace / official site]
Shut up and eat your garbage
It's not that I didn't like Ratatouille - I most certainly did - but I don't really know what to write about it. Pixar has never let me down, even Cars was dead good, and this promised to be much better. In many ways, Ratatouille (henceforth just "the film") is the anti-Cars. There are no big name celebrity voices, it's about a very exclusive interest, it's set in Paris, the title needs to spelt phonetically in all the advertising, and there is relatively little marketing appeal with its hero. (Having said that, you can buy Emile suits at the Disney Store and they're totally adorable).
Pixar don't go for pop-culture gags like Shrek etc, and so the films' appeal is longer lasting. Plus, the animation is always tremendous, and in this film it really looks incredible. The Patton handles lead character vocal duties well, although I could only think of his birth control bit off 'Werewolves and Lollipops'. The story wasn't as strong as some of the studio's other output, and it really lagged in the middle, but it's a minor gripe. Showing that there's still some life in the animated-animals-say-cute-things clusterfuck, the film is short of genius, but heads and shoulders above most other big name films this summer.
