Captain Miserable

Dave Attell spends a good portion of Captain Miserable trying to bend a polite theater audience to his usual late-night club rhythms. Armed with a rapid-fire delivery, he fires off filthy setups to a crowd that takes a minute to catch up. He gets the most out of his specific vocal mechanics. By deploying sudden whispers and abrupt volume changes, Attell manages to sell otherwise straightforward premises about soup, potheads, and the anatomical shape of Florida.

Filmed at Washington D.C.’s Lincoln Theater in 2007, the special arrived a few years after his Comedy Central series Insomniac ended. Attell later admitted the taping felt like “going uphill” against a stiff room, forcing him to pivot mid-stride during a bit about pedophiles.

Reception was divided. Some critics praised his undeniable timing, while others dismissed the set as dirty for the sake of being dirty. Either way, it functions as a snapshot of a working road dog tossing out pitches for Jagermeister commercials and venting about performing for troops in the Middle East.