I'm On A Roll

Framing a stand-up album with a four-minute hypnotic induction and ending it with a reorientation track is an effective statement of intent. Randy Liedtke operates largely through slow-burn misdirection and deadpan nonsense, setting up scenarios where the crowd spends half its time wondering if he is doing a bit or losing his composure. In “Proposal,” he strings out an uncomfortable, high-stakes relationship routine until the punchline reveals just how cheap the trap was.

Comedy Central Records released the 57-minute album in October 2015, coinciding with Liedtke’s appearance on season four of The Half Hour. At the time, he was a regular fixture in the Los Angeles alternative scene, co-hosting The Bone Zone podcast alongside Brendon Walsh and making late-night appearances on Conan and Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Rather than rapid-fire club jokes, the set runs through deliberate, oddball tangents, including pitches for movies, an imagined pitch to Mark Ruffalo, and arbitrary observations about the dollar store.