No Joke

Corey Adam ditches prepared material entirely for a release built out of crowd interactions, off-the-cuff vamping, and heckler shutdowns. The tracklist of No Joke is dedicated to the moments that normally end up on a cutting room floor. Instead of crafted setups and punchlines, the Minneapolis comic spends the recording sparring with the room, whether he is challenging an audience member to a mustache-wrestling contest, addressing an unusually young patron at the bar, or demanding a spectator uncross their arms.

Originally funded through Kickstarter before being picked up by Stand Up! Records in 2015, the album captures Adam during his tenure as a regular in the Twin Cities comedy scene. The project relies strictly on stage presence and quick reactions to side conversations and people who simply refuse to stop talking. Without a safety net of rehearsed jokes, he is left to rely on spontaneous Monkees references and complaints about an audience member’s chewing gum to fill the time.