Doug Stanhope"From Across the Street" CD

Doug Stanhope’s fixing to kill himself. The method is the problem. The way he figures it, if he’s going to kill himself, he’d better make a spectacular exit. It’s gotta be a good story, or he’ll have wasted his biggest punchline. Performing overseas, he did get one particularly ingenious suggestion from a European fan, but when a comedian commits suicide, he sure as hell isn’t going out as a hack, doing some other guy’s material! And that about sums up Doug Stanhope: he’s living life the way he wants to die, surrounded by the kind of fans who will spend precious hours thinking up newer and better ways for the stage veteran to off himself.

“From Across the Street” finds Stanhope reveling in “his people,” speaking directly to his core audience without any pretense of a mainstream persona. Yes, he says, I’m the guy who ruined “The Man Show.” And yes, he’d ruin it again, twice as much, for half the pay. Yes, he says, he knows his style might seem a little raw to some, but, like fetish porn, it has a dedicated audience and always leaves them thoroughly satisfied. Stanhope’s honest, if dour; hilarious, if depressing; and brilliant, if underappreciated. His new, live record, “From Across the Street,” is available this Thanksgiving from Stand Up! Records. Just, please, don’t play it for Grandma at the holidays. As Stanhope would say, “She won’t get what I do.”

Drinking With Ian"Season Two" DVD

Set up the shot glasses, champ, it’s time for another round of Drinking with Ian! Season 2 of the eponymous Ian’s popular, Minneapolis-based cable access show finds our hometown hero back in his old haunt, the 7th Street Entry (the servants’ quarters to First Avenue’s elegantly decayed mansion). With his well-marinated band of revelers, including bartender Ollie Stench, house poet Haiku Jim, and the show’s resident chanteur, Neil, Ian hits his stride in this second volume of late-night, on-tap entertainment. In some sort of Joseph Conrad trip to the mythical past, viewers will delve into the origins of DWI, watching long-lost tape of the 1990-something pilot for Drinking with Ian… and Troy? But nevermind Troy.

They’ll learn the mysteries of shots including the Uncle Frank, the Fonzie’s Office, and the Boz Skaggs – not to mention the champion bleep-inducing cocktail, the C*cksucking Motherf*cker. They’ll explore Midwestern musical greats from the legendary (the Mighty Mofos) to the critically acclaimed (Low) to the perennially hard-working and under-appreciated (Building Better Bombs). They’ll even delve deep into the world of independent films, with hilarious shorts like the animated “Day Off the Dead.” But most of all, through the second season’s more ambitious pre-taped skits, on and off-site interviews, and the pure joy exuded by the Drinking with Ian crew, connossieurs of Season 2 will be forced to agree with their host when he enthuses, “This crap’s getting better all the time!”

Jamie Kilstein "Zombie Jesus" CD

Zombie-mania! In the midst of a virtual zombie pop-culture resurgence (not surprising with zombies, now is it?), Jamie Kilstein’s long-awaited “Zombie Jesus” has hit the streets. And Kilstein’s definitely trying to steal your brain.

Stand Up! Records is pleased to present the first full-length record from this self-described “atheist liberal stoned comic.” Launching right in, Kilstein opens with the most offensive joke he can think of and quickly has his audience begging for more. His incredible appeal may come from his material, which, in the time of so much “blue collar comedy” is mighty refreshing for blue-staters. Or it may come from his virtuoso delivery, wherein he applies the rapid-fire wordsmithing he honed as a champion slam-poet to the absurdities all around. Either way, his enthusiasm and charm shine, making Kilstein’s disc feel as much like a live performance as any comic – or, perhaps, reanimated comic corpse – has ever managed.

Despite the title, nothing about “Zombie Jesus” feels like it’s been dragged from a mouldering grave – instead, Kilstein comes off as a fresh new standard-bearer for the cutting-edge comedy cadre that Stand Up! Records has so proudly assembled. Now our biggest problem may just be narrowing down the very best keywords to draw in online shoppers. Right now, we’re leaning toward “hot-ass, coulda-been-a-model Jesus,” “lady membership card,” “universal healthcare,” “bake sale,” “regular to-do’ins,” “Americatown,” “seal blood,” “barracuda,” “nobody goes to Missouri, “ and, of course, “hockey fetus.”

Dana Gould "Funhouse" CD

Stand Up! Records is proud to present the re-release of Dana Gould’s first CD “Funhouse.” Recorded just prior to Gould’s 7 year tenure as a writer and co-executive producer for The Simpsons, “Funhouse” catches a light and loose Gould galloping onstage for a romp through the joys of a working-class, Irish Catholic upbringing as preparation for his life in LA.  This self-deprecating comedian is known to many for his recent Showtime special, his frequent guest appearances with Bill Maher, Jimmy Kimmel, and Conan O’Brien, and as the delivery-man for the only Amish joke to feature in 2005’s The Aristocrats.

In this classic stand-up show, Gould hits on some of his best routines, taking hilarious detours through the modern culture wars and old Hollywood. Gould is particularly wonderful as he introduces his subtle, totally on-point impressions, woven into standalone jokes with an easy touch. In his mind, Gould sees Vincent Price getting his mack on, the untimely appearance of his father’s sh*t-faced phrase (“I’ll be honest wit’cha!” “Nooooo! Don’t be honest with us!”), and even Gilligan’s Island characters dropped into South Central, finishing out the evening with the world’s single best Morrissey impression. You thought you were scared of clowns before? Well, you just wait for the encore, champ.

Dwight York "Quickies" CD

Like a slug of Jack Daniels after one too many Appletinis, Dwight York’s “Quickies” is a palate-cleansing dose of pure, distilled comedy. York skips the meandering and navel-gazing that too often passes for stand-up, instead breathing fresh life into the good old-fashioned one-liner. As he puts it, “I hope you like jokes, because here we go!” Thanks to this stage veteran’s well-honed act and aww-shucks delivery, York’s generally “adult” material feels quick-witted rather than rapid-fire. He elegantly weaves classic call-backs throughout, tying each seemingly standalone gem into a coherent and ludicrous whole. With occasional nods to a (perhaps mythical) seeing-eye dog and the memory-dulling effects of certain recreational substances, he peppers his set with enough recurring themes to provide surprise bonus-laughs, even in the midst of his punchline marathon.

York’s comedy brings to mind a number of famous comedians – the dry wit of Steven Wright, the drug humor of Mitch Hedberg, and the filthy but endearing wordplay of George Carlin all seem to make appearances – but, in the end, stands as its own uniquely funny voice. It just happens to be a voice giving you ideas on how to creatively use chewing gum to encourage your lady to try out a Brazilian wax. The author of The Vile File, a collection of jokes even this raunchy headliner saw as too depraved for the stage, York’s catching on as a raw new outlaw of comedy.

Chris Porter "Screaming from the Cosmos" DVD

Chris Porter’s first live performance DVD, “Screaming from the Cosmos,” might be misnamed. Instead of screaming, Porter rolls into his performance, a little closer to the cosmos with the help of some pre-show merriment. Oh yes, folks, he did inhale. Pot, for Porter, is like Tang for astronauts or steroids for Barry Bonds – a performance-enhancing drug that helps him get the job done each and every time.

Porter, best known to many audiences for his top three finish on NBC’s competitive comedy show “Last Comic Standing,” delivers top notch, relatable humor with the candor and comfort of a college buddy. Before a psychedelic backdrop in his hometown, he belies his stoner persona with whip smart, staunchly apolitical jokes that cannily hit on life’s highs and lows – and definitely its absurdities. Porter seems as at-home on stage as he might be on your couch as he saunters through his wry observations on everything from Axe body spray to the bad manners of the elderly and the ridiculous world of nightclubs. Minute by minute, Porter tells people jokes of the highest order.

Danny Bevins "A Different Kind of Bad" CD

By “A Different Kind of Bad,” Danny Bevins probably means “A Whole New Kind of Good,” but then, you wouldn’t expect a born-in-a-red-state, raised-in-a-blue-state, reluctant veteran pacifist with a sadist streak to sort that out, now would you? At least not by show time. Often using his own life as a sort of running punchline, Bevins skips the formalities and launches right into the fray with his first stand-up CD, now out from Stand Up! Records. The young comedian welcomes his audience into his (generally) non-partisan, but decidedly opinionated, world with equal-opportunity attacks on the left, right, and middle.

In the course of an hour, you’ll find him describing the 2004 presidential election as a race between the Unabomber and Napolean Dynamite and skewering the false patriotism of people who get a little over-zealous when they hear he’s served in the military. “Come on,” he implores, “you could have done it. All you need is limited options and an open calendar!” Clearly, Bevins never takes himself, or anything else, too seriously. In fact, he insists that he’s never willingly jumped out of a plane (though he’s been sucked out of dozens of them like a piece of government-issued litter), that his favorite movies are Gandhi and Fight Club (“I believe peace is the answer, and if you don’t, I’ll punch you in the face”), and that, when all’s said and done, the Bachelorette would be a way better show if all of the contestants were homeless guys. With a decade of international stand up experience under his belt, Bevins hit his stride years ago; now, with the release of “A Different Kind of Bad,” it’s time for this charming show-stopper to strut.

Dylan Brody "True Enough" CD

With his credentials, Dylan Brody ought to just swagger out onto the stage and command his audience to laugh. Instead, on Stand Up! Records’ new release “True Enough,” the long time performer humbly tells his stories while the giggles and accolades roll on in. Brody has a particular knack for toeing the line between long-form joke-telling and straightforward short story-telling, clearly writing with the telling in mind and hitting his cadences easily and confidently. Like his peers David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs, Brody mines his own surprisingly insane life to weave tales that are simultaneously relatable and truly outlandish. He presents each of his stories with the same gusto and anticipatory joy of a favorite family anecdote, buffed and polished over the years and presented anew over every Thanksgiving turkey. This disc blithely covers the broad lands between a hamster named Vita Brevis and unintentional whoring; being upstaged by Robin Williams and called at home by George Carlin; a runaway dog that stops home to visit every now and then and personal lessons in the relationship between bigotry and geography. Somehow, Brody weaves it all together into one beautiful and deeply, truly, magically funny mess.

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