Sound/video quality isn’t the greatest (is it ever, on Youtube?) but this has Mitch Hedberg doing some of his classic jokes and also some stuff that is on the latest CD called Do You Believe in Gosh. (I am too lazy right now to do links to certain words in this post).
Mitch Hedberg
Review: Do You Believe in Gosh – Mitch Hedberg’s new CD
The new CD of Mitch Hedberg material, Do You Believe in Gosh? was released on September 9, 2008. Mitch Hedberg and the new CD are discussed about in this New York Times piece which came out last week. No, as one friend asked, Mitch is not the stand-up comic version of rapper Tupac, releasing material from the Great Beyond. Instead, this material was compiled from a few performances at the Ontario Improv, not intended for release. Who knows if anything like this by Hedberg will be released in the future, but hopefully so.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Listening to the material this evening, there is a lot of great jokes, of course. Some material is obviously stuff he’s trying out, but there’s plenty of clever one-liners to satisfy Mitch Hedberg fans. The first track or two is slow-going and I was a little worried that it would ramble all the way through (like, be really unpolished), but once the one-liners get going, you forget that this was not intended for commercial release because some of it is gold. The material was still being worked on, still finding its way into the world of Mitch, but a lot it easily matches up against his previous albums’ polished set of material. And even when joke doesn’t work, Mitch sometimes admits or just lets it fade out. It’s a good example of how seemingly successful (I’d call him successful) comics still have to get on stage, try new material, and see how it works.
My favorite so far is the set-up/punch-line for the inspirational physically challenged Lola, the typical, physically challenged person who is supposed to inspire the world by not knowing the word “can’t.” I won’t spoil it, but Mitch Hedberg has a bigger concern about Lola.
There are 13 title tracks but Mitch Hedberg fans know that this means there’s probably 15 other topics discussed in rapid-fire, curious one-liners and thoughts about nearly everything, from burritos to ESPN Classic to heavy belts.
Yes, I recommend it, of course. Hopefully, this isn’t the last album of Mitch stuff that will be released. If there is a Gosh, of course, then more will be released.
As with the other albums, there’s occasional harsh language, but the subject matter is everyday stuff.
Mitch Hedberg – NEW ALBUM! September 9, 2008 – Do You Believe In Gosh?
UPDATE: My first impressions of the album here.
Earlier: I’m gonna take a break from my idiotic posts to make anyone aware that the late comedian Mitch Hedberg has a new comedy album coming out on September 9, 2008. I just discovered this and so I thought I’d share.
I’m a fan – and I don’t say that often of anything.
UPDATE: I put a few thoughts down about the new album, which I’m listening tonight.
Two ‘Bergs – Dennis Wolfberg and Mitch Hedberg….legends.
Two of the absolute best and original comics are Mitch Hedberg and Dennis Wolfberg. Both are no longer, but their acts are timeless, material made so much stronger by their delivery. Mitch gets more attention from fans and comics as he passed away more recently, but both deserve to be recognized for years and years (and yes it’s a coincidence that my last name ends in ‘berg too! that’s the only thing I have in common with these legends).
Mitch Hedberg – great material, and one-of-a-kind delivery. Here’s the first part of his Comedy Central special.
Dennis Wolfberg: this bit is on childbirth, marriage. For more, search youtube.com. There’s not a whole lot out there, but it’s worth watching.
Weekend in Review!
I performed 10 minutes of stand-up comedy Saturday night in San Luis Obispo at the Grange Hall – I did okay, thought I was gonna do better. Jokes that worked: hmmmm, let’s see……being mauled at the local zoo by a redneck (a joke inspired by those idiots in San Francisco) and one about killing neighbor’s dogs in order to reverse the ‘owning a dog adds 7 years to your life’ study I heard about. I did not start off strongly, and that made it tougher, and so lesson re-learned.
What else about the past weekend: I thought most of the Superbowl commercials were lame. And don’t forget to vote this week if your state is holding a primary. Or go ahead and forget to vote but tell people you did vote.
Posted on my other blog, laughreview.wordpress.com, is a clip of Mitch Hedberg, who would have turned 40 this month if he hadn’t died in 2005.
MARK WIBERG 