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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Live In: Nerd Rage

Brian Posehn

Self-released · Album · 2005 · 58 min

A metal-infused stand-up set for the ultimate pop-culture dork.

Brian Posehn has spent his career playing variations of the giant, awkward nerd on TV, but his debut comedy album proves he is much more animated when he gets to rant on his own terms. Recorded across various stops of the Comedians of Comedy tour between late 2004 and mid-2005, the performance captures Posehn at a career turning point. He was transitioning from a recognized face on sitcoms like Just Shoot Me to a foundational figure in the mid-2000s alternative comedy boom.\n\nThe material focuses heavily on his identity as a middle-aged metalhead and lifelong pop-culture obsessive. He directs his frustration at the Star Wars prequel trilogy, recounts a bizarre incident involving his dog Ernie and his wife, and shares self-deprecating stories about his high school reunion. The album also bridges the gap between stand-up and music, concluding with “Metal by Numbers,” a satirical heavy metal track co-written with Scott Ian of Anthrax that targets mainstream radio-metal bands.\n\nOriginally self-released at shows in 2005 before getting a wider distribution on Relapse Records, the set remains a definitive document of the era’s indie-comedy movement.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Movie Ruiners / The Unholy Trilogy

    Rips into the poor quality of Star Wars Episodes I and II, comparing the experience of viewing The Phantom Menace to enduring an unwanted violation.

  2. Writing Segues

    Employs meta-standup awareness by abruptly leaping from jokes about dogs to religion, quipping that he hasn't written a segue since 1990.

  3. Post-war Iraq

    Proposes a future where Iraq becomes America's cultural ally similar to Japan following World War II.

  4. Metal by Numbers

    Performs an original metal parody song backed by Scott Ian and Joey Vera, with Posehn growling instructions that mock formulaic, cookie-cutter modern metal song construction.

  5. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Titannica Interview and 'Try Again, Again' closer

    A sketch featuring Bob Odenkirk as a radio DJ decrying reunions before resurrecting the accident-prone fictional metal band from Mr. Show to play their song.

How it plays

Tone
Dry, personal, absurd, smartly lowbrow, self-aware, and nasty yet genial.
On stage
Self-described 'total metal dork' and affable, adenoidal nerd with an imposing physical presence, delivering crude but jovially immature observations with a congenial, deadpan everydude demeanor.
Pace
Patient, deadpan delivery shifting into sudden yelling and Cookie Monster metal growls, moving through short, scatterbrained 90-second riffs.
About
Heavy metal fandom, Nerd identity and childhood tormentors, Marriage and domestic life, Dogs and pets, Pornography, Star Wars prequels

What the critics said

Praised as a solid, sharply amusing debut that successfully bridges alternative comedy and metal culture; critics highlighted its meta-comedy moments and heavy metal collaborations, though Pitchfork noted the stand-up sections often stuck to familiar club-comedy topics with more 'nerd resignation' than genuine rage.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, brianposehn.com, discogs.com, brianposehn.bandcamp.com, pitchfork.com, okgazette.com, avclub.com, metalinsider.net, lollipopmagazine.com.

Backstory

Recorded between October 2004 and May 2005 across clubs during the Comedians of Comedy Tour (in Atlanta, Athens, Portland, Eugene, and San Francisco). Rather than going to an indie-rock comedy label like Sub Pop, Posehn signed with heavy metal imprint Relapse Records after selling out a 1,000-copy self-released run.

Details

Released
Runtime
58 min
Where
Self-released (album)
Topics
Before
Comedy Central Presents (2002)
After
Criminally Posehn (2016)

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