Jon Glaser at “Invite Them Up”

As those in the East Village and surrounding areas may well be aware, there exists a local standup showcase called Invite Them Up, which features sets from all manner of young progressive comedians. I was turned on by O.G. M. C. P. to the release of a 4 disc CD/DVD compilation (through Comedy Central) of some of the best material from the series, curated by the very funny and very dry Eugene Mirman and the very, very annoying and loud Bobby Tisdale, who tends to lapse into a hackneyed Steve Martin c. Wild and Crazy Guy impression at the drop of a hat. And, as could be predicted, the content of the CDs is as hit-and-miss as the yin-and-yang hosts. The funniest acts, for me, are the more traditional stand-ups, who, while still sometimes doing the trendy “this isn’t comedy, it’s serious” schtick, make me laugh more than the others : Mirman, Mike Birbiglia, A.D. Miles, Todd Barry. For the record, I’m still on the fence about the hip Aziz Ansari, who I find occasionally funny and definitely the only comedian working with a bit on M.I.A., but still seems to be working toward an assured presence outside of the indie crowd.

My main problem with much of the material here is, well, I always instinctively ignore anyone with a guitar at a comedy club, because I almost never find comedy and music to be a good mix. Second, I’m dubious of the improv-troupe guys who are going for the high-concept laugh (and how many iterations of the former State and UCB casts can there be?), although Jon Benjamin and David Cross nail a hilarious routine on disc 3 (and the DVD) about a new father talking with a strange OB-GYN who performs abortions “up to three weeks after birth”. The funniest piece on the set, though, belongs to Jon Glaser (mp3), whom I hadn’t heard before, performing a straight-faced routine about his recently deceased father, who held a quite large music-related secret from his son. Apparently, he’s also one of the “Matter of Trust” guys who performed unnanounced at the recent New Pornos/B&S show in NYC.

Filed under: Jon Glaser