The Drug Budget

You will find The Drug Budget listed in comedy directories right between Drinking With Ian and Bil Dwyer, but they do not tell jokes. They are a ten-piece garage orchestra from Minneapolis. If you hit play on their tracks expecting a setup and a punchline, you get a wall of indie pop instead. The horn section is loud, the drums are heavy, and the energy is strictly musical.

They landed in the standup ecosystem through an unusual collaboration. In 2016, the local label Stand Up Records released Feel Real Fear, a true split album. The record alternates back and forth. You get a few minutes of comedian Robert Fones working through a standup set, and then the track changes and the band takes over with synthesizers and brass. It forces the listener to constantly shift gears, moving from tracking a complicated premise to bouncing along to a pop hook.

Fronted by fraternal step-brothers David W. Gibson and Linus Kangas, the group formed in 2009 and spent years throwing loud, crowded shows across the Twin Cities. They hold a permanent spot in standup discographies simply because they were willing to share a tracklist with a comic. They break up the rhythm of a standard comedy release by dropping an actual horn section right in the middle of the hour.