God damn it’s a good weekend for comedy.
Yes, there are still tickets available for tonight’s Aziz Ansari show at the Keller. But did you know that there are two other, better comics in town this weekend? It’s true!*
1. Hari Kondabolu at Helium
Here’s my review of Hari Kondabolu’s excellent debut comedy album, released this month on Kill Rock Stars.
And here’s his set on Letterman from earlier this week, which is less-good than his album or his typical life performance, but gives a sense of his material, at least:
2. Kurt Braunohler at Helium
I wrote about his KRS album last year:
Kurt Braunohler launched his album How Do I Land? with one of the most brilliant PR stunts of all time: He raised $4,000 on Kickstarter to hire a skywriter to emblazon the album’s title across the sky. The first comedy album released by local indie label Kill Rock Stars, How Do I Land? was recorded live at Mississippi Studios on Valentine’s Day. (I was there; it was romantic.) Braunohler is a towering redhead with glasses and a perpetual air of being up to something; he claims his “purpose as a comedian is to insert stupidity or absurdity into strangers’ lives.” As such, his jokes often revolve around pranks, jokes, and other disruptions to the status quo, like a bit about fucking with strangers by adding fake facts to animals’ Wikipedia pages, e.g., “a single everything bagel started the Great Squirrel/Pigeon War of 1982.
(For more on Kill Rock Stars’ foray into comedy, pick up a copy of Agenda, the Merc’s new arts guide, in this week’s issue or at standalone boxes around town.)
UPDATE #3. Midnight Mass
Found this guy in the comments:
Details! (I have heard great things about this late-night showcase, though I haven’t yet been.)
*Okay, it’s not true true, art is subjective, whatever. But I like them more. Aziz is very charming and great but his stuff is a little broad for my tastes; I’m more interested in Braunohler’s out-there silliness and Kondabulu’s crazy-smart social critiques.
I’m ambivalent on Kondabolu. On one hand, I like the different rhythm and subjects. On the other hand, the relentless focus on race is wearying, and he blurs the line between standup-as-sly-vehicle-for-change and standup-as-excuse-for-guileless-harangue.
Barbara Holm is our local line-blurrer. She’s helped me realize I enjoy the quality of the misdirection more than the message the misdirection is in service of.
Did you listen to the album? I think the album’s really excellent—it’s the same set he did at Helium last year, but stronger.
Also Midnight Mass at Funhouse Lounge MAY POSSIBLY feature one of the comedians mentioned above and it is free! 😀
https://www.facebook.com/MidnightMassPDX