Voyageur

Mikey Manker has a way of delivering incredibly dark, highly dysfunctional family history with the casual posture of a guy leaning against a bar stool. His second album, Voyageur, released on Stand Up! Records, highlights this ease. Manker does not lean on high-energy theatricality; instead, he uses a low-key conversational swagger to lay out some of the most bizarre personal trivia you will hear on a comedy record. The centerpiece of his storytelling is his father, an ex-Marine who transitioned to bar musician after his legs were broken by a bear in a semi-professional wrestling match. From there, Manker walks through a childhood defined by a mother whose primary ambition seemed to be ruining his father’s life. He recounts the specific day he failed the eighth grade, which happened to be the exact same day his teenage sister got pregnant, and details his plan to use his newly acquired healthcare to secure a vasectomy. Manker spent over a decade in the Chicago stand-up scene, headlining at Zanies and appearing at Chicago Underground Comedy, before releasing this collection in 2015. His writing on tracks like “Kids” and “8th Grade” captures a distinct brand of Midwestern pessimism, delivered by a comic who seems completely comfortable with his own dysfunction.