Any Chance You Didn't Shove That Job Yet?

Eric Lyden approaches stand-up with the frank admission that he only took up the microphone because regular employment was a disaster. At eighteen, he worked the hardware floor at Sears believing peat moss was an elusive co-worker. Selling cars went no better. When he finally quit to pursue comedy, he avoided the traditional bridge-burning fantasy out of pure pragmatism, knowing there was a very real possibility he would have to return and ask his former boss if the shoved job was still salvageable.

Taped in Provo, Utah for Dry Bar Comedy and released in 2021, the forty-minute set operates entirely within the constraints of family-friendly club comedy. Lyden had spent two decades working clubs, television spots on Gotham Comedy Live, and cruise ships where working clean was required by contract. Rather than chafing against the format, he leans into self-deprecation, detailing bad jobs, married life, and the awkward urge to demand the spotlight at a funeral.