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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Raging Bully

Bobby Slayton

Miramar Records · Album · 1998 · 59 min

An hour of aggressive, gravel-voiced complaints from the Pitbull of Comedy.

Bobby Slayton operates with a gravelly rasp and an unyielding lack of patience. On the 1998 audio album Raging Bully, the self-proclaimed “Pitbull of Comedy” leans into a confrontational, rapid-fire rhythm. He is an insult comic in the classic sense, viewing his audience and his own family as targets of opportunity. The appeal here is the sheer velocity of his agitation. He does not want you on his side; he just wants to talk over you.

Released as an hour-long set on Miramar Records, the album features Slayton digging into heavy-handed domestic complaints. He offers deeply unromantic accounts of his marriage, including a dispute sparked when his wife discovers his copy of a pornographic film titled The French Maid. When she asks if he wants her to dress up like the character, Slayton tells her it would ruin the movie, suggesting instead she dress like a Mexican maid to clean the house while he sleeps with the woman on the tape. It is an abrasive posture, capturing the comic during a stretch of his career where he was parlaying this exact aggression into acting gigs like his turn as Joey Bishop in HBO’s The Rat Pack.

The set list

6 bits

  1. Men refusing to ask for driving directions

    Argues men avoid asking for directions because having a woman in the car usually means they are going somewhere they do not want to go anyway.

  2. Racial movie title double standards

    Contrasts the accepted title 'White Men Can't Jump' with the hypothetical outrage if someone made a film titled 'Black People Can't Seem to Shut the Hell Up in a Movie Theatre'.

  3. Marriage and the appeal of the gay lifestyle

    Remarks that being married helped him see the appeal of being gay because it is essentially hanging out with guys while still getting oral sex.

  4. Swapping his daughter's movie

    Jokes about replacing the tape of 'Beethoven's 2nd' his daughter was watching with 'Cujo' while she was away in the bathroom.

  5. Religious warnings about going to hell

    Dismisses fear of conservative Christian warnings about hell by imagining it as an enormous party where Jews cater, African Americans entertain, and gay people decorate.

  6. Ultimate sexual fantasy

    Describes a fantasy where his wife catches him making love to Julia Roberts and proceeds to make him a sandwich.

How it plays

Tone
Rude, profane, offensive, unapologetic, and abrasive.
On stage
Self-billed 'Pit Bull of Comedy'; an aggressive, impatient, angry-white-guy persona delivering pugnacious, politically incorrect observational comedy behind a hoarse, raspy New York accent.
Pace
Fast-talking, agitated delivery with high-energy yelling and complaints.
About
Minorities and race relations, Gender distinctions and sexism, Marriage and relationships, Pornography and sexual fantasies, Homosexuality and religion, Kids and family life

What the critics said

Critics characterized the hour as vintage, take-no-prisoners Slayton, noting that its rude, politically incorrect barrage was best suited for established fans rather than newcomers, while praising his professional comic timing and single-take delivery.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: allmusic.com, bancodeprofissionais.com, phoenixnewtimes.com, preview.reviewjournal.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Recorded in a single hour-plus set on the final night of a five-night stand at the Comedy & Magic Club, captured with minimal editing rather than compiling bits across multiple shows.

Details

Released
Taped
1997, Comedy & Magic Club, Hermosa Beach
Runtime
59 min
Where
Miramar Records (album)
Topics
Before
One Night Stand (1990)

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