Albums
Live in Nerd Rage
2006
Genre: Comedy
Release Date: 2006
By Stuart Berman
Reviewed September 6, 2006
"Mr. Show" vet covers everything from porn to Star Wars to post-war Iraq on this Relapse-released comedy album.
The Relapse logo on comedian Brian Posehn's debut album pretty much says it all: if his fellow "Mr. Show" alum David Cross is the funnyman of choice for indie-rockers, Posehn speaks to another perennial underclass-- the metal-heads. Or rather, thirtysomething middle-class metal heads who, between getting married, walking the dog, and mowing the lawn, have lost the follicular capabilities to bang a full head of hair. On more than one occasion on , Posehn refers to himself as a "total metal dork" and (of course) "nerd," but the constant declaration of his loser status starts to feel like a forced attempt to assert an identity, reducing his entire act to an easy game of word association (see Seinfeld: nothing or Gallagher: watermelons). When Posehn recounts anecdotes about being pestered by jocks, I don't doubt he speaks from experience. The irony is, they're the very audience that would lap up his potty-mouthed stoner shtick.