Mark Normand: Soup to Nuts

Combines a great, unique delivery with very funny material. His style is often like a throwback to comedians from before the Carlin/Pryor era but his jokes and stories are, in no way stale. There are just so many great comedians with specials out there now and hopefully this doesn't get lost in it because it's a gem of a show. And it's nice knowing that the next generation will have guys like Normand and Morril around for a long time. It's hard to review stand up specials without ruining the jokes, but if you like humor about things like having sex with down syndrome people, you will enjoy this show.

I didn't like how he recycled some jokes and premises from out to lunch, but overall this special was great. It had me laughing out loud in a way that I haven't been capable of in some time. I'm getting aware of how he forms his jokes, having watched/listened to hours of his material, yet the punch lines remain pleasurable. I can't think of another performing comedian like him. Some similarities to other comics, some similarities to bygone eras yet still fresh. I hope he continues to grow in popularity. I hope this type of comedy continues to grow in popularity. Some of us still want to have fun.

Certain eras coin people and elevate them above others forever but when it comes to comedy specials this is not such a time, and Mark Normand, despite his talent, remains derivative of others- particularly Chris Rock (who he practically mimics at one point) and Jerry Seinfeld. He has some great lines but the man/woman stuff doesn't quite work, the "let's go back to fun racial slurs" is the plea of an old man and his unvarying tone and setups lose your attention at times. He remains king of the podcast one liners but even he can't change the fact that specials are starting to look like something from another age.

Normand might be the best stand up act of this generation. A challengning thing for many comics who saw a significant increase in audience due to podcasting, is creating original material for the stage, and conducing material to a mainstream audience, thus catering to both hardcore fans, and casual audience members not in the know on inside jokes. Normand doesn't use lazy shout outs and references to fellow comics or podcast bits for cheap applauses. He sticks to the basics: setups and punchlines. Though he is anything but basic. He has a unique voice and hits you with so many jokes per minute i found myself pausing the special to finish laughing and make sure i don't miss any jokes, and even rewinding certain bits multiple times. Although he disagrees and says Out To Lunch was the superior special, i think he keeps getting better and this is his best work yet. Must see special.

Setup, punchline, setup, punchline. This works great for brilliant, imaginative comedians like Mitch Hedberg and Dimitri Martin, but Mark's payoffs are more at home at a high top in a bar.

You can't argue that Mark isn't clever, but actual laughs are sadly sparse.

The rest of this review is dedicated to the brave men and women who created this special. It was directed by James Webb, who discovered Mark in deep space, tapping his space suit's radio link saying, "is this thing on?" It was filmed in Chicago as established by an early shot of Chicago and the background sounds of hot dogs unwrapping.