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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Har-Larious

Harland Williams

Comedy Central Records · Album · 2005 · 44 min

Surreal crowd work and oddball logic from a club stage.

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Harland Williams brings his brand of surreal nonsense to the stage in this audio release, relying on a rubbery delivery and the kind of unpredictable crowd work that works best when the room is slightly confused. Best known in 2005 for playing weird side characters in studio comedies like Dumb and Dumber and Half Baked, Williams uses this club set to double down on his reputation as an eccentric live performer.\n\nRecorded at the Funnybone in St. Louis, Missouri, the performance finds Williams tossing out non-sequiturs and testing the limits of audience patience. In tracks like \”My Buddy Larry,\” he argues about vegetarianism, while other bits spiral into hypothetical scenarios about body enhancement and tattoos. He spends much of the set in direct conversation with the front row, throwing out bizarre names and waiting for the room to catch up to his rhythm.\n\nBecause his highly visual style of physical comedy does not translate perfectly to a pure audio format, some of the jokes struggle without the accompanying facial contortions. Still, the album captures a comic entirely comfortable letting a set derail into chaos for the sake of a strange reaction.

The set list

3 bits

  1. Al Quedas attacking buildings with blimps

    Williams spins an absurd take on post-9/11 terrorism and airport security involving attackers using blimps.

  2. Front row audience members working at Arby's

    An extended improvisational riff where Williams mocks the crowd upon discovering multiple front-row audience members work at the fast-food chain.

  3. Harland in the Sack

    A bawdy, off-tangent track addressing his persona in bed.

How it plays

Tone
Surreal, absurd, eccentric, and goofily profane.
On stage
Absurd, wacky, and unpredictable; combines nonsensical vocabulary, vocal sounds, rubbery physical mannerisms, and an acerbic, Don Rickles-style riffing dynamic with audience members.
Pace
Starts off somewhat hesitatingly with hit-or-miss joke delivery before relaxing into energetic improv, loud screams, vocal noises, and pregnant pauses.
About
restaurants and fast food, terrorism and airport security, body enhancement and tattoos, cars and airbags, animals and corn, dating and sex

What the critics said

Reviews were mixed-to-positive: AllMusic noted that despite hit-or-miss setups, his audience interaction and surreal improv are strong, while regretting the absence of visual video to capture his physical comedy. The A.V. Club characterized it as joltingly funny but light 'junk-food comedy', while BallBuster Music praised it as hilarious and highlighted his crowd improvisation.

In the room: Good, receptive club crowd that responded enthusiastically to his pauses, facial gestures, and improv callouts after an initially tentative opening.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: allmusic.com, gigsty.com, audiomack.com, ballbustermusic.com, avclub.com, eyzmaster.blogspot.com, encyclopedia.com, en.wikipedia.org, dead-frog.com.

Backstory

Taped in September 2005, touching upon post-9/11 anxieties and airport security.

Details

Released
Taped
Funnybone, St. Louis
Runtime
44 min
Where
Comedy Central Records (album)
Honors
Best Improviser Award on NBC prime time series (2007)
Topics
Before
Comedy Central Presents (2005)

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