David Cross, Shut Up, You F—ing Baby!
I used to listen to music to help me go to sleep, which stopped when I finished high school. Recently, I’ve listened to stand-up when I’m going to bed–Eddie Izzard, Patton Oswalt, Mitch Hedberg, and David Cross, depending on whose style I prefer at the time.
I only recent heard David Cross’s Shut Up, and it’s stuck with me more than his other stand-up work. I heard It’s Not Funny when it came out a couple years ago, but the last half of the record seemed more politically harsh, and I’ve preferred that comedic mine to be plumbed by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert over the past couple years. Shut Up is a double album, with a clean break in between the anecdotes and observations in the first half and political satire in the second. His track about Kansas City (a portion of which can be heard here), which closes the first disc, is excellent, with a brilliant setup that meanders hilariously until the surreal climax.
It’s hard to remark about a comedy album in a critical way–either it works or it doesn’t. I wouldn’t listen to it if it didn’t work. «»
