I picked up Stuff White People Like a while ago. Not so much because I was dying to read it, but because it hit the remainder table and I wanted to be up on what the kids were reading. But then it just sat on a shelf gathering dust. So finally, after more than a year, I just this week forced myself to give it a try before re-selling it. This isn't a book review, so I'll spare you my diatribe about the book's inherent racism not because it caricatures white people but because it makes blanket generalizations that pertain much more to class and social status than to race. Putting that all aside, the book was amusing. Not really laugh-out-loud funny, but diverting enough to smile, chuckle, page through and occasionally mutter, "touche."

David Huntsberger inhabits kind of the same space for me. His comedy is pretty smart, and often dead-on accurate. I don't find myself wiping tears away and gasping for breath when he finishes a set, but I can honestly say that laughs were had and insights into the human condition were made. I also know that for some folks, he's a top-five comedian. He has a really popular podcast (Professor Blastoff), a couple of critically acclaimed CDs, and was a semi-finalist on Last Comic Standing.

I like his stuff, and appreciate the work he's done to build his sets ... I just don't really identify with it. And I can't hold that against him. If everyone laughed at the same thing all the time, we'd be doomed to a comic world that consisted of nothing but videos of people falling down stairs.

We're getting a lot of great talent coming through town these days, working really well with our up-and-coming local comics. If you're a comedy fan, then soak it in and get out there to see as much as possible. Even though I might not be Huntsberger's demographic, he's got funny stuff and it might totally rock your world. He's onstage Saturday night at Curious, with local comic Sean Jordan opening for him. You've seen a lot of Jordan if you've gone to shows around town in the last couple years, and you'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future.

I do need to add this, though: Huntsberger also dabbles in animation. And he's got some kind of cool stuff on his website. One of them is a really cute video of Curious's own Stacey Hallal floating through Venice Beach. It's really well done, and worth the minute to check it out.