The Crown Prince of Smart People Funny is back with his fourth full stand up recording. This is a man that helped revitalize the importance of the comedy record. How could Finest Hour possibly match up to the history he's already made? Well, I don't know about any of that, but it is really funny.
Patton Oswalt - The Finest Hour (2011) – 8.5 / 10.0
Release Date: Sept. 20, 2011
Running Time: 1:15:51
Label: Comedy Central Records
Drug of Choice: Whiskey, Twinkies
Key Tracks:
"The Invisible Anus"
"The Magic of Cursive"
"The Museum of Spam"
"The Best Comedy I've Ever Seen"
The Term You'll Be Using Forever After Hearing:
"Tragic avalanche fat"
If you are a fan of comedy podcasts, you probably know that most modern comedians got their first taste for stand-up from an album. Whether it was Steve Martin, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Bill Cosby, Martin Mull, Monty Python, or George Carlin, it was not their appearances on sitcoms or late night television that made them icons, but these uncut performances on vinyl. With the rise of HBO and later Comedy Central, the comedy album began to lose its importance in favor of television formats that allowed comedians to stretch in front of the camera. Relegated to the cassette bargain bins of gas stations across the South, a comedy album rarely made its way into the vernacular until the rise of 'alternative comedy' (as best as I can tell, that term means you don't treat your audience like they are faceless idiots and try not to wear loud colors). Over the course of the last decade there has been a watershed of fantastic stand up albums from the likes of Mitch Hedburg, Louis C.K., Denis Leary, and David Cross. Standing above the rest however, has been Patton Oswalt. Since 2004, he has released four full-length stand-up performances. His first two releases, Feeling Kinda Patton and Werewolves And Lollipops are amongst the very best comedic recordings I have ever heard. Patton takes the intelligent anger of Lenny Bruce or Bill Hicks, but delivers it with a fully formed idea and often a funny nonverbal sound. While a lot of people have characterized Patton by his anger, his true comedic strength comes from being silly. Like Dylan Moran and Louis C.K., Patton's best work comes from taking a concept and deconstructing it to its furthest adolescent description.
The problem with comedic album performances is very similar to that with musicians. A comedian hones their craft for years before being given the opportunity to record. So, most often, their first record is an hour of their best work from years of preparation and touring. How do you follow that up the next year with brand new material? Even the mighty Mitch Hedburg couldn't replicate the strength of his first release. Patton started with one of the best comedy albums ever and then somehow got better on his second record. He has continued to challenge himself and take the performances seriously. With Finest Hour, Oswalt starts out with some very familiar territory. The first quarter of the album is mostly stories about giving up on life and making noises. Enjoyable, but nothing you wouldn't expect. That being said, by the time he begins talking about homosexuality and religion, the jokes are as strong and inventive as anything he has ever done on record.
It is clear that Patton's personal challenge for Finest Hour was honing his economy to deliver as many jokes as possible. Where Patton's previous three records involved plenty of long stories and in-depth tangents, this record travels at the pace of a Punk album, with 23 fully-formed bits fitting in a tight one hour and fifteen minutes. In that time he's covering everything that took him twice as long on Werewolves. From his last record to here, we get to see Patton Oswalt honing his profession. He knows the audience knows what to expect from him. He doesn't have to explain references or even flesh out his thinking. Here, Patton can drop a punchline and move on before the audience has finished laughing. In less than thirty seconds, he moves from Arcade Fire punchline to Rascal story. As a performance, this was a good selection. Patton has the crowd in Seattle eating from his hand and they let him decide the rhythm of the performance. As a result, classic album fans will see some clear parallels between Finest Hour and Woody Allen's Stand Up Comic. If you aren't familiar with that Allen record, I just said 'buy it'.
Reviewer Stats:
Reviews - 20
Average Rating - 6.94
Highest Rating - 9.5 Blitzen Trapper's American Goldwing
Lowest Rating - 4.0 Her Space Holiday's Her Space Holiday
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