Ty's Mount Rushmore of Comedy Greats

I was pretty funny back in the day

I'm a huge fan of stand up comedy. I go to a ton of shows, I own a lot of comedy records, I watch specials on Netflix, Comedy Central, Showtime, basically any channel that puts comedy specials on and I listen to, primarily, comedy podcasts. I just love comedy and I devour it.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what four comedians would make my personal Mount Rushmore of stand up comics. A lot of people have crossed my mind. I'm a bit too young for guys like George Carlin or Bob Newhart. I like their stuff a lot, but it was well before my time. Some people my age really like guys like Adam Sandler, Dane Cook and David Spade. I used to like all three of these guys, mainly Sandler, but as I've grown up, their comedy does nothing for me now. It's hackneyed and tired. I'm a humongous fan of the alternative comedy scene that's blowing up right now, but, guys and girls like Doug Benson, Jen Kirkman, Maria Bamford, John Mulaney, Pete Holmes and The Sklar Brothers, just to name a few, have a long, long way to go to be on anyone's Mount Rushmore. I also love improv comedy. I really like people that can make you laugh by simply using a suggestion from the audience. People like Matt Besser, Eugene Cordero, Jon Gabrus, Amy Poehler and Lauren Lapkus are super, super talented, but they don't make my cut. I love all of these comedians, but there are four that stand head and shoulders above the rest, in my opinion. I'll count them down from four to one and tell you why they made my Rushmore. Let's get started.

Coming in at number four is the wonderful Tig Notaro. She's a comic genius. Her delivery is so perfect for her style of comedy. She's has a monotone, slower delivery that, when she hits that punchline, it totally pays off. She's silly without acting silly. She has a very calm demeanor while on stage. Her new special was fantastic, but I always go back to her album "Live". This was the album she put out right after she was diagnosed with cancer, she had a very rare, very intense disease that was literally eating her insides, her girlfriend just broke up with her and her mom unexpectedly died after hitting her head. She had all these terrible problems going on and she went on stage and let it all out for the audience that night. It's sad, it's heart breaking, it's devastating, but she makes it funny. She is such a tremendous comic that is finally getting the respect that she deserves. Tig Notaro is a powerhouse and everyone needs to check her out. She's awesome.

The third head on my mountain is Hannibal Burress. He's the youngest one on the list, but he is an absolutely hilarious stand up that is totally blowing up right now. He's part of the alt scene, but he's also a huge sports fan and a fan of rap music. That's not very common in the alt scene right now. He has some great bits about the NBA and when he makes fun of rap lyrics in his live shows, it's some of the funniest stuff I've ever seen. He also talks about the problems with meeting people and being young in Hollywood. He has some great bits about things I'd never think was funny. Talking about pickle juice or his first name or searching for jobs, he makes these everyday problems hilarious. I've seen him twice the past two years and each time, he absolutely destroys. I know he's gained a lot of notoriety for his Cosby bit, but he was up and coming well before that blew up. He is also a very funny writer and actor. He wrote for "SNL" and "30 Rock" and his stuff was great. He's also got his own show on Comedy Central, which I've written about, and he's fantastic on "The Eric Andre Show". Hannibal Burress is only going to get bigger and bigger. He's on his way to super stardom.

Number two was my introduction to the world of stand up comedy, Brian Regan. I was given his first stand up album by a friend of mine and I listened and laughed at that record so much, I had to buy three more copies because I kept wearing them out. He is also a "clean" comic. That means he doesn't swear during his live sets. In this day and age, that's incredible. He is a show man in every sense of the word. He is constantly moving on stage, his facial and body expressions add so much to his shows and he is the master at delivering a punch line. It's been said, in the comedy community, that he's one of the hardest comedians to follow. He crushes so hard, that the audience is all laughed out by the time the next comic comes up. That's the highest compliment a stand up can get, if you ask me. I've seen Regan five times live, and each show is better than the last. He sells out arenas and theaters no matter where he goes and his fans adore him. He's the only stand up that I've seen that does encores. He comes out and does one of his many famous jokes and the audience eats it up. I'm so glad that I was introduced to Brian Regan, He literally changed my life when it comes to stand up comedy. I had to find more people that did this because it was so funny and so great. Without Regan, I may have never gotten into stand up comedy.

Which brings me to the only comedian that surpasses Regan and that's Louis C.K. I mean, he is literally a genius. He's one of the hardest working people, not only in comedy, but in show business. Not only does he star in the best show on TV, "Louie", but he writes, directs, edits and produces it. That's so much work and he does it so very well. He also releases a new special every year with brand new material. Imagine how hard that must be. To come up with an entire new hour in comedy has to be one of the hardest things to do. I hear other stand ups talk about how it takes them 18 months to 2 years to come up with a new hour. Louis C.K. does that every single year, while doing his show and acting in movies and other TV shows. In his stand up, he talks about everyday life and it's completely relatable. He talks about kids, work, family and friends and he does it very vulgar and very, very hilariously. Go back and watch any one of his specials and I guarantee you will love it and laugh your ass off. There is nobody better in the comedy game right now than Louis C.K. I cannot end this blog without mentioning that he wrote and directed one of mine and out editor's favorite movies, "Pootie Tang". Next time you watch "Pootie Tang" think about that and you will fall in love with the movie. Louis C.K. is a true comedy genius and he's a once in a lifetime legend that I will always hold in very high regard. He's the best.

So, that's my Mount Rushmore of stand up comedians. I love these four people and I love that they are all still producing new material. It gets no better than these four comedians.  

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. His current source of high comedy comes from the jokes his three year old hears in pre-school. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The SeedSing (half) Year in Pop Culture: The Top Five Albums of 2015

These are the records to put on

Day two of my Best of 2015 countdown will be my top five albums of the year. I'm a huge music fan and there has been a decent amount of music put out this year. Bands and musicians like Sleater-Kinney, Earl Sweatshirt, Thundercat, Kurt Vile and Father John Misty all put out excellent records. I've also been introduced to some older bands and albums from years past this year. For example, I love both Run The Jewels albums. Shit, I was this close to putting them on this countdown because they're so good and I just recently started listening to them. I also recently got way into AC/DC. Their older stuff is excellent rock and roll music, but it wouldn't be fair to put them in this countdown. I picked five albums that were released this year. They are my five favorites and the ones I go back to the most. They're all fairly popular, but that doesn't make the music any less listenable. On with the countdown.

At number five I have a band that I was just introduced to five days ago, but I can't stop listening to their record. The band is Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats and the album is self titled. This album is great. It hearkens back to the good old days of early alternative soul music. I was introduced to this band while listening to the Sklar Brothers music podcast and the guy that was talking about them gave the perfect comparison. He said that Rateliff sounds like Van Morrison and the band is like the studio bands for soul music in the 60's and 70's. I couldn't agree more. This album is good from top to bottom. Rateliff has that Morrison/old soul gruff voice and the band is tight. The highlight of the record for me is the song, "Howling at Nothing". It has everything you could want in this style of music. Great vocals, great background music and a kick ass guitar solo. This record is excellent.

Coming in at number four I have what every other publication has at number one, Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly". Oh my god, this album is so complex and so awesome. It's a total detour from his record last year, "good kid, M.A.A.D. city", but that's oaky. The funny thing about this record, I didn't care for it the first time I heard it, but on the second, third, fourth and so on and so forth listen, I grew to love this album. It's so god damn good. Lamar is a beast. He has taken over the throne as the best rapper out there right now. He is the best writer and his delivery is top notch. This is more an art piece than a rap album. Lamar pays tributes to the people that influenced him and the last track where he reads a letter to Tupac and has Tupac responding is chilling. I love this album. I'm a big rap fan and the things that Kendrick Lamar does on "TPABF" is light years ahead of any rapper out there right now. He's so much better than Drake or Kanye West, it's funny that they're mentioned in the same sentence as him. I cannot wait to see what he will do next.

My number three album is "Yours Dreamily" by The Arcs. I've heard some hipsters complain that this album is no good or complain that Dan Auerbach needs to stop doing side projects, but why not work with some good musicians and do some different, interesting things. Sure, it sounds a bit Black Keysish, but most stuff will if Auerbach is the lead singer. I think "Yours Dreamily" is better than any indie rock or alternative album that was put out this year, with one exception that I will get to at number two. The album spans many different genres of music and I like to hear what Auerbach can do with a full band. When I wrote about this album earlier this year, I said it was like a western movie soundtrack, but in the best way possible. Upon further listens, I still feel the same way, but I also think it's just a downright awesome rock album. Songs like "Velvet Ditch" or "Outta My Mind" are awesome rock/blues songs with Auerbach crushing on vocals and guitar. Auerbach can do no wrong musically. The best track on this album is "Stay in My Corner". There's a different singer, but the song is sweet, rock and roll and blues all mixed into one song. The vocals are great, the music is great and the chorus is memorable. This will be a wedding song for the hipsters that like this band for many years to come. "Yours Dreamily" is a great record, don't listen to the music snobs out there saying that it's not so good, they're wrong.

My number two record is the one alternative record I like more than "Yours Dreamily". That album is "Sound and Color" by the Alabama Shakes. I mean come on, how did they top their debut record, "Boys and Girls" so easily? "Boys and Girls" was a revelation to me, "Sound and Color" has the makings of a classic album. This is a record that I feel my kids will play for their kids. Alabama Shakes could've easily stayed in their little indie corner and make more swamp records and been very successful, but they took a huge chance by playing poppy prog rock and they hit a grand slam. This album is so different from their debut and I love that. "Sound and Color" proved that they were willing to take huge chances and showed a lot of diversity. This is the type of album you put on and listen all the way through without skipping one song. The highlights for me are "Sound and Color", "Future People" and "Dunes". "Sound and Color" is a super trippy, slow burning tune that works perfectly. You may have heard it on the most recent Apple Mac Air commercials. The marimba and Brittany Howards vocals are hauntingly beautiful. "Dunes" is another slow song with flat out awesome music in the back ground. Howard, once again, crushes the vocals as well. "Future People" is the high light of this phenomenal album. It's slow, it's heavy and it builds to be the perfect rock song. The guitar effect used during the chorus is one of the coolest things I've ever heard. "Sound and Color" is so good, Alabama Shakes is now one of the best and most talked about rock bands of the 21st century. Best alternative rock record of the year by far.

My number one album of 2015 is Leon Bridges "Coming Home". I've been on the Leon Bridges bandwagon for about nine months now. I've written about him twice on the website and my first blog on him was about a YouTube video I saw of him before he released his debut album. This album is so wonderful. It brings 60's soul and R&B into the 21st century. Bridges vocals are perfect for this style of music. His background band reminds me of the ladies that sang with guys like Rufus Thomas, Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes. The band plays and records on retro equipment. I mean, this is the coolest thing I've heard in quite some time. The fact that Bridges is only 25 years old makes this album all that more impressive. He is going to be a humongous star if he continues on this path. "Coming Home" is the best 30 minute album I've ever listened to. Songs like "Brown Skinned Girl" and "Better Man" sound like Stax Records re opened their doors and let him record there. Those songs are timeless. My favorite track on the record is "River". It's a quiet song that just builds and builds to a beautiful ending that has Bridges softly and smoothly singing the final lyrics. I love his voice and his band and everything about this album. "Coming Home" is far and away the best record I heard in all of 2015 and it was the first of my top five that I listened to. It's stayed with me all this time, that's how awesome it is.

So, there you have my top five albums of the year. Tell me why I'm right or wrong in the comment section and let me know what I left out. Come back tomorrow for my top five TV shows of the year.

Also, RIP Lemmy Kilmister, you were a guitar god and you will be greatly missed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. Next year he is planning on getting into the BeeGees and Black Flag. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Comedy is thriving with podcasts. Get the best with the new app Howl.

Where do I turn the dial to hear this great comedy?

As all of you know, I'm a big, big fan of podcasts. 

I listen to podcast ranging from sports to comedy. Comedic podcasts are where my bread is buttered. I love listening to funny people being funny. There's something great about podcasting that allows these comedians and comedy writers to be funny in a free flowing environment. There's no real structure. Sure, you have an intro and an outro, but what happens in the middle is the best part. You get to hear these people use improv. That's so cool, because a lot of these people are great improvisors. People like Doug Benson, Scott Aukerman, Mike Mitchell, Nick Wiger, The Sklar Brothers, Paul F Tompkins and Matt Gourley are all great comics and actors, but on podcasts, they shine. Podcasting gives them the ability to do whatever they want. No notes from network executives, or people telling them to wrap something up. They have free rein. 

Podcasts have also introduced me to very funny up and coming actors and comedians like Lauren Lapkus, Jon Gabrus, Hayes Davenport, Sean Clements and even an old timer like Brendon Walsh. Ben Schwartz is so hilarious whenever he and Scott Aukerman do their "solo bolos" on Comedy Bang! Bang!. Actor Adam Scott is very, very funny during his appearances on multiple podcasts. Nick Kroll is a comedy powerhouse, especially with his many different characters on Comedy Bang! Bang!.  How Did This Get Made introduced me to Paul Scheer, June Diane Rapheal and the extremely funny, Jason Mantzoukas. I had barely ever seen or heard from Andy Daly until he started to pop up on different podcasts and now he has one of the best shows on TV, "Review". I could go on and on and on.

The main reason I'm writing today is to tell you about the great new podcast app called Howl. Howl gives you unlimited access to every single Earwolf, Wolfpop and WTF With Marc Maron that's ever been recorded. That means every episode of Comedy Bang! Bang!, How Did This Get Made, U Talkin U2 To Me, Analyze Phish, what I'm trying to say is, you get every single episode of every single Earwolf show. On most podcast apps, you get the last six months. On Howl, you get every episode ever, and the old ones are remastered with no commercial interruption. Same thing goes for the fairly new sister network of Earwolf, Wolfpop. You get Maltin on Movies with Baron Vaughn, I Was There Too, The Canon and so on and so forth. Every episode ever and the old ones are commercial free.

That would be enough for me, but they also give you every single WTF with Marc Maron. On his free app, he only gives the last sixty episodes for free. Howl gives you every episode ever. That's right, you can go back and listen to the two part Louis CK episode, voted best podcast ever, commercial free as many times as you want. You can hear Marc Maron interview Robin Williams. You can hear him from his start, interviewing his comedy buddies all the way to his high point of interviewing President Barack Obama.

Now, this app does cost money, but it's only 5 dollars a month. That's not much at all considering what you're getting. There is also shows that are only part of the premium Howl app. New shows from the Sklar Brothers, Lauren Lapkus and Jermaine Clement just to name a few will be on the premium app soon. There's also a TON of comedy albums available. You can hear albums from comics like Jen Kirkman, Doug Benson, Jim Gaffigan, Nick Kroll, Aziz Ansari and many, many more. I know, this sounds like an add, but it's not, I really just love this app and I think comedy podcast listeners will too. This is the holy grail for comedy podcasts. All these hours upon hours of uninterrupted shows is, in a word, phenomenal. It's a nice way to give back to these people that give us all this free content. Five dollars a month is nothing, and it's totally worth it. I love the Howl app and I'm really happy to have it. This is the first movement in the future of podcasting and I couldn't be happier about having all this content. Keep up the great work people of Earwolf, Wolfpop and WTF.

You guys have a fan for life.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and co-host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He did not get paid by any advertisers for writing this, . Follow Ty on twitter .