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Promotional art for Space Ranger
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Comedy Dynamics

Space Ranger

David Liebe Hart

Comedy Dynamics · Album · 2017 · 39 min

Outsider music, puppets, and alien talk set to electronic beats.

Rather than traditional stand-up, David Liebe Hart works in a hyper-specific subcategory of outsider art where puppet-assisted songs about extraterrestrials, trains, and personal dysfunction double as comedy. On Space Ranger, his vocals are layered over the synth-heavy, electronic production of collaborator Jonah Mociun. Released in late 2017 by Comedy Dynamics, the audio album caught Liebe Hart at a point of high visibility following his appearances on the ten-year anniversary special of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, the Adult Swim series that originally brought his eccentricity to a wider audience. The 16-track project features a handful of surprising guests, including underground rap hero Kool Keith on the title track and alt-hip-hop producer Jel. The material covers his standard obsessions along with candid anecdotes, as heard on ‘I Caught My Pecker in My Zipper’, ‘I’m Not a Hoarder’, and the anti-substance-abuse anthem ‘Don’t Sniff Glue’.

The set list

6 bits

  1. Ghost Frog

    Hart recounts how his sister neglected to feed the family aquarium, causing a frog to die and return as a spectral amphibian that haunted his bedroom.

  2. Space Ranger

    Hart teams up with hip-hop artist and fellow spaceman Kool Keith to explore intergalactic and extraterrestrial themes.

  3. No Sex Since '94

    Hart addresses his prolonged celibacy and loneliness following his 1994 divorce.

  4. I'm Not a Hoarder

    Hart defends his massive collection of dozens of puppets and model trains.

  5. I Caught My Pecker in My Zipper

    A candid and absurd comedic musical track about suffering a painful zipper accident.

  6. Insect Woman

    A bizarre musical exploration of an alien/hybrid insect-woman figure.

How it plays

Tone
Surreal, bizarre, awkward, and wildly eclectic.
On stage
Alien-obsessed, puppet-wielding, endearingly odd outsider performer who delivers songs and stories in an operatic, loungey, and cartoonish vocal style.
Pace
An eclectic, unpredictable mix of synthesized musical beds, awkward stage demeanor, and surreal narrative pauses.
About
extraterrestrial encounters and Korendians, trains and transit lines, ghosts and supernatural hauntings, dating and celibacy, puppets

What the critics said

Characterized as David Liebe Hart's magnum opus and an endearingly odd, hilarious, and wildly eclectic rollercoaster ride.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: comedydynamics.com, northcoastjournal.com, open.spotify.com, newsreview.com, davidliebehart.bandcamp.com, toledocitypaper.com, horrornewsnetwork.net.

Backstory

A devout Christian Scientist, puppeteer, and self-described extraterrestrial abductee with a deep passion for model trains, collaborating with producer/composer Jonah 'Th' Mole' Mociun on electronic synths and oddball songs.

Details

Released
Runtime
39 min
Where
Comedy Dynamics (album)
Topics

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