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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Eat the Cake!

Bill Young

Stand Up! Records · Album · 2023

A posthumous collection of a Minneapolis storyteller's best sets.

Listen on Stand Up! Records(opens in a new tab)

Bill Young had an unusual ability to take a minor embarrassment and escalate it until it reached a point of absolute absurdity. Whether he was recounting an unwanted goth threesome, getting combative at a hipster VFW, or finding a crack pipe full of weed right before an interview for a McDonald’s management position, his storytelling relied on a deliberate, stoner-adjacent pacing that made even his wildest detours feel earned.

Young was a staple of the Minneapolis alternative scene, but he died in 2014 at age 32 before he could record a proper solo release. Almost a decade later, Stand Up! Records assembled this posthumous compilation from hundreds of hours of archival recordings. The tracks span early club sets, cable-access shows, and festival appearances, stitching together a portrait of a comedian who excelled at turning self-deprecation into high art.

Instead of a single, highly produced theater set, this compilation functions as a career retrospective. It captures Young performing in front of varying crowds, from the familiar rooms of Grumpy’s and The Triple Rock to an outdoor festival stage in Mexico. The audio quality fluctuates between tracks, but the sharp timing of his punchlines remains consistent throughout.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Duck hunting

    Argues that duck hunting is far less complicated and expensive than going out into the wild.

  2. Fake Amber Alert

    Offers a very dark take on what to do in the event of a fake Amber alert.

  3. Eat the Cake (Title Track)

    Biographical routine about winning a sheet cake in grade school that may or may not involve renting a time travel machine.

  4. A Christmas Story

    Recounts an experience involving a mall choir featuring special needs people.

How it plays

Tone
Slightly dark, silly, joyful, and bonkers.
On stage
Story-oriented, relaxed, silly, and joyful presence with an edge of darkness.
Pace
Effortless precision with an ability to escalate jokes to infinity, stacking punchlines and insights.
About
duck hunting, customer service, being bad at being an adult, fake Amber alerts, step-parenting, weddings, and divorce, childhood memories

What the critics said

Praised by Richard Lanoie as an 'excellent and slightly dark' album that flows seamlessly despite being a collage of multiple performances; characterized by Patrick Strait as 'as funny and dark and bonkers as Young was.'

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: theseriouscomedysite.com, en.wikipedia.org, comediansdefyinggravity.com, everything.explained.today.

Backstory

Compiled posthumously during pandemic lockdown by Stand Up! Records producer Dan Schlissel from recordings across Young's career, including sets from Minneapolis venues (Grumpy's, Triple Rock, Club Underground) and the Akumal Comedy Festival in Mexico.

Details

Released
Where
Stand Up! Records (album)
Honors
Debuted at No. 2 on the iTunes comedy chartDebuted at No. 2 on the Amazon comedy chart
Topics

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