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Promotional art for Uncabaret Presents Taylor Negron
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Comedy Dynamics

Uncabaret Presents Taylor Negron

Taylor Negron

Comedy Dynamics · Album · 2015 · 51 min

Rambling, unpolished Los Angeles storytelling from the veteran character actor.

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Taylor Negron's first release since One Night Stand (1991). Released , on Comedy Dynamics.

Taylor Negron possessed the louche, gossipy delivery of a man who had seen everything in Los Angeles and regretted only half of it. Relieved of the burden of setup-punchline stand-up, he treats the microphone like a living-room conversation, pausing to describe weed as “God saying hi” before detailing an awkward run-in titled “An Intimate Breakfast with the Dalai Lama and Sharon Stone.”

The 51-minute audio release, put out by Comedy Dynamics in June 2015 following Negron’s death from cancer earlier that year, compiles recordings from Beth Lapides’s alternative comedy haven UnCabaret during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Lapides’s West Hollywood room famously forbade comics from doing their standard club sets. Negron was uniquely suited to the rule, remarking on stage that he was not allowed to do his act and leaning instead into unvarnished, digressive essays.

Audiences mainly knew Negron as a ubiquitous character actor, turning up for single scenes as the pizza delivery guy in Fast Times at Ridgemont High or the hitman Milo in The Last Boy Scout. Here, across tracks about cults, family history, and Hollywood dinners, his delivery is casual and theatrical.

Because the tracks were pulled from different nights across several years, the collection suffers from uneven pacing and occasional formlessness. When critics reviewed the posthumous compilation, they noted that his verbose style played closer to an undisciplined Spalding Gray than a regular stand-up.

Notable bits & set list

8 bits

  1. An extended rumination on L.A.'s improbably beautiful weather

    Opens with a stammering digression and notes he is not allowed to do his usual act at UnCabaret.

  2. Taking a stage role in a disastrous production of Dracula

    Bemoans the state of his film career and not wanting to play the stupid pizza guy his whole life.

  3. Getting lost in his villain role on The Last Boy Scout and making an unprofessional mistake at the end of his big scene

    Constructed like a traditional joke, told with amused delight at his Hollywood experiences.

  4. His parents offhandedly granting his childhood wish for a monkey

    Extended personal anecdote eliciting mild chuckles.

  5. Winding up stoned outside Frank Sinatra's funeral

    Amiable story combining his fondness for marijuana with a celebrity brush.

  6. Getting arrested for smoking marijuana in Miami

    Laid-back anecdote tied to his enduring fondness for pot.

  7. Attempting to cope with a flood of raw sewage at his house

    Cruises along amiably on Negron's idiosyncratic charm.

  8. Neighborhood kids calling him a racial slur

    Mentioned in passing without unpacking what the experience meant to him.

How it plays

Tone
Conversational, amused, laid-back, and loosely personal.
On stage
Endearingly disreputable, louche, laconic, and laid-back storyteller with a verbose delight in language and detached, idiosyncratic charm.
Pace
Loose, discursive, and choppy across the compiled tracks, marked by stammering digressions, restarts, and lost trains of thought that intermittently sap storytelling momentum.
About
brushes with celebrity and the entertainment industry, Los Angeles life, marijuana use, childhood memories, personal mishaps

What the critics said

Mixed; A.V. Club notes that while Negron himself is always engaging and charming, the fractured compilation structure and UnCabaret's formless, digressive style result in uneven pacing and a pleasant if somewhat forgettable farewell.

In the room: Warmly appreciative live crowds across the various UnCabaret sets.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: comedydynamics.com, comedydynamics.bandcamp.com, allmusic.com, vulture.com, avclub.com, thecomedybureau.com.

Backstory

Released by Comedy Dynamics in June 2015 following Negron's passing, the album compiles live sets from L.A. alternative comedy club UnCabaret, a late-1980s-founded venue requiring comedians to abandon traditional standup acts for a looser, personal storytelling format.

Details

Released
Taped
UnCabaret, Los Angeles
Runtime
51 min
Where
Comedy Dynamics (album)
Topics
Before
One Night Stand (1991)

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