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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

All By Myself

Brian Regan

BrianRegan.com · Album · 2010 · 61 min

An audio hour covering hearing tests, texting, and the food pyramid.

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It takes a specific kind of confidence for a physical comedian to release an audio-only set. Brian Regan built his reputation on frantic pacing and contorted facial expressions, but All By Myself strips away the visual punctuation. He compensates entirely with vocal inflection, applying his trademark bewilderment to the food pyramid, text messages, and a hearing test. The format forces the listener to focus on the writing mechanics of a comic who relies on precision just as much as volume.

Regan self-released the hour in 2010 as a digital download. He recorded the material earlier that year during a run of five sold-out shows at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, breaking the venue’s previous attendance record set by Jerry Seinfeld. The set captures Regan pulling massive theater crowds strictly on the strength of his club-honed material. He approaches the “Balloon Boy” news cycle by focusing solely on the kid throwing up on television. The recording also leaves in a rare break in composure where he cracks himself up mid-joke doing an impression of a lazy horse.

The set list

6 bits

  1. Capt. Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger's Hudson River water landing

    Analyzes the unwritten cultural rules of heroism, emphasizing that a genuine hero is never permitted to view himself as one.

  2. The Balloon Boy media hoax

    Focuses on the child throwing up on live television whenever pressured to lie and speculates on how that dynamic will affect him as an adult.

  3. Aging, body aches, and seeking medical care

    Riffs on how difficult it is to find a doctor who cares as one's body starts crumbling with age.

  4. Navigating text messaging and technology

    Muses on being an adult who cannot understand how to properly read or navigate text messages.

  5. Proper usage of the phrase 'godspeed'

    Explores the literal interpretation and situational oddity of wishing someone godspeed.

  6. Wearing a Miami Dolphins shirt in Dallas

    Ponders the absurdity of potentially getting into a physical altercation over a T-shirt featuring a cartoon dolphin.

How it plays

Tone
Observational, self-deprecating, lighthearted, and clean.
On stage
Self-deprecating, perplexed everyday everyman portraying himself as a confused adult trapped in a child's mindset who laughs at his own expense.
Pace
Clean, madcap vocal delivery driven by expressive vocal cadence, inflection, and finely tuned comedic pauses.
About
aging and bodily decline, doctors and healthcare, language and word choices, text messaging and technology, current events, parenting

What the critics said

Praised as consistently laugh-out-loud funny, demonstrating that Regan's strong vocal inflection and observational joke construction succeed brilliantly even without his trademark physical stage mannerisms.

In the room: Rapturous reception across five consecutive sold-out shows, featuring audience members shouting out requests for classic bits.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: brianregan.com, audio-digital.net, allmusic.com, oklahoman.com, comedyreviews.wordpress.com, dallasnews.com, en.wikipedia.org, pittnews.com.

Backstory

Recorded in March 2010 during a five-show engagement at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, surpassing Jerry Seinfeld's previous four-show venue record set in 2005.

Details

Released
Taped
Abravanel Hall, Salt Lake City
Runtime
61 min
Where
BrianRegan.com (album)
Topics
Before
The Epitome of Hyperbole (2008)
After
Live from Radio City Music Hall (2015)

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