Jim Hamilton, “The Loneliest Number” (2012)
When I ordered Michelle Biloon’s You Can Be an Asshole, I also picked up Jim Hamilton’s Poems About the Ocean, because I buy every AST comedy album. Kyle Kinane and Matt Braunger (two of my favorite unpretentious comedians) had said good things about it, but I’d never heard of Hamilton before, which always makes me leery. I needn’t have been; Hamilton is a superb comic in a self-flagellating vein (possibly my favorite form of human expression), working mostly with one-liners in the vein of Steven Wright. The luxurious self-loathing is cut with a touch of absurdity and embedded in a willingness to experiment with the conventions of stand-up, including the convention of jokes making sense or being “funny.”
I’m not sure I’d call it the best comedy record of the year — I’d have to listen, and re-listen, a lot more to make that call — but it was definitely the most pleasant surprise.
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flailure reblogged this from jonathanbogart and added:
I Googled myself. Thanks for the kind words, Jonathan. Sorry I had to have you arrested for copyright infringement.
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jonathanbogart posted this
