I Can’t Believe It’s Not Comedy

Keith Lowell Jensen was on the line again. “Where is that ICBINC CD review?” he asked. “Did you even bother to listen?” Well, yeah. And I happen to like Jensen, and I work with one of the other troupe members, so this is a bit difficult. But one must be honest. This is a CD of skits, without the visuals, but with some smart musical backing by St. Simon 3 and Xeno. The skits—which make fun of yuppies, country-music subculture and other fish-in-a-barrel targets—probably work well in a live setting, but they come off as somewhat sophomoric here. But comedy records are difficult to make work; unless one is doing wild-ass stand-up (like Robin Williams or Richard Pryor) or scripted material with layers of subtext (Firesign Theatre), it’s probably a better bet to grab some instruments and sing in Swedish.