Home and Away

Nobody hates casual elevator chit-chat quite like a seasoned New York club comic. When someone steps into a lift and decides to give Marcus an unprompted weather report, his irritation isn’t an act; it’s a deeply held civic philosophy. The core argument here is that simply existing near other people requires constant vigilance, whether that means dodging commuters who refuse to take off their bulky backpacks on the train or surviving intersection texters who wander blindly into oncoming traffic.

The second half leaves Manhattan behind, though getting away offers little relief. Trips out of town only give him a fresh set of grievances, including bewildered visits to Idaho, the pretenses of farm-to-table dining, and an honest reckoning with middle age that concludes a hot bowl of soup can easily beat bad sex.

Released on audio in April 2019 by Skinnyboy Records, the set arrived around the same time Marcus made his late-night stand-up debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he performed an abridged version of the restaurant material. While he was already known among comics as a longtime regular at the Comedy Cellar and a writing partner to Leslie Jones, the album earned outside recognition as one of The Interrobang’s ten best comedy records of the year.