Good Year

Will Miles works at an unhurried, low-key tempo, offering the quiet reactions of someone who noticed something irritating at a grocery store three hours ago and only now decided to mention it. He talks about taking public transit, the humiliation of getting cast in commercials specifically because he has a baby face, and the awkward negotiations of early dating. The humor comes from his reluctance to get worked up, letting dry observations sit in the room until the audience catches up.

Recorded in Chicago at the Comedians You Should Know showcase, Good Year was released in 2016 by Comedy Dynamics as a 40-minute audio album. The taping served as a return to his hometown scene after moving east, during a stretch when he was co-hosting the weekly Comedy at the Knitting Factory show in Brooklyn and writing for The Chris Gethard Show.

Between personal notes about attending Morehouse College and the mechanics of romantic comedies, he breaks down the strange dynamics of being a Black comic in partially gentrified rooms. The album earned a spot on the Portland Mercury’s year-end list of the best comedy albums of 2016.