I suppose, then, The Tangential is my friend, because it’s not really boring and it doesn’t really suck. The content is well written, but never forget: this is a blog, just like every other daily content website is a blog. News websites try to act all like they’re not blogs but they definitely are, too. But The Tangential has an editorial process, and it shows.

So what kind of comedy can you expect from this website? Hipster comedy. And I don’t mean comedy about hipsters, I mean Hipster Comedy. It’s like Latino Comedy or Observational Humor. One main contributor is a sociology professor and another is a writer at an ad agency. Yet another teaches in a public school that I attended for two years. But they all have one thing in common: hipsters. They write as and for hipsters. So if you’re not ready for essays entitled Megan Boyle talks about poetry, alt lit, and “Unpublished Blog Posts of a Mexican Panda Express Employee” or an entire category called “low-culture” (misuse of hyphen, but I like them so I won’t point it out. Also, the URL doesn’t say “low-culture;” it says “television.” Hipsters.) that is really just about everyday life because we’re so hip because we’re just so normal, then avoid this website.

But really: this is some funny shit. You should read it.

*No one is Chuck Klosterman. Not even the man himself.

Jim Gaffigan
October 7-8 (3 shows), State Theater
Get tickets
Maybe he’s jumped the shark, but I don’t think so. Jim Gaffigan’s comedy is not high brow, but it’s not Blue Collar Comedy, either. It’s accessible and unpretentiously funny. Which is to say: still and always funny. Just hearing him pronounce “Do-ritos” would be worth the price of admission for me.

Aziz Ansari
November 5, Treasure Island
Get tickets
Aziz Ansari is the funniest stand up working right now. Period.

Jerry Seinfeld
Orpheum Theater, November 19 (2 shows)
Get tickets
Jerry Seinfeld’s last album was released in 1998, when his show ended and he retired all his material. He did a documentary a few years later about trying to write an entirely new set of material, so this is your chance to see what the king of “did you ever notice?” comedy has done now that the entire basis of his persona is what people consider wrong with comedy.

sometimes rolls
off a cone

into fresh-cut grass
can still ruin

an afternoon even if
you’re not six years old.

Drunk may or may
not have something
to do with it.

But what’s even more boring than that reason to change a stupid lake’s name is what they want to change it to: Lake Humphrey. As if Hubert Humphrey doesn’t have enough shit named after him around here! (Yes, he was vice president, but where’s the love for Mondale? He was VP too!)

We have come up with five better names for Lake Calhoun. Tell us which one is best and we’ll submit it to the City using their official “What should we rename Lake Calhoun?” form.

Minnesota has produced a few massively popular national comedians, and those comedians recorded comedy albums. I have compiled a single track from the comedians who have albums available on Spotify, which is a free music (and comedy, apparently) listening service. You can sign up for free… but you’re cool enough to already have it, right?

The album covers below lead to a single track of theirs. However, full albums are available for all of them, and in some cases multiple albums. Just click on the comic’s name to be taken to the rest.

Josh Blue

I remember seeing this guy on Last Comic Standing years and years ago. It turns out I am not the only person who thought he was funny.

Mary Mack

Mary Mack did the same thing to my brain that happened when I realized Josh Blue was a national act these days. Here I thought I had discovered some awesome indie comic who no one had ever heard of and I was THE ONLY PERSON to ever hear these jokes, which means the people laughing in the audience weren’t even there. Alas, that was not the case. But happily, you can hear many, many of her jokes on Spotify!

Louie Anderson

I think Louie Anderson only makes jokes about how big fat he is. But that’s ok, because it’s funny how fat he is!

Mitch Hedberg

There is nothing I could say here to do justice to the earliness with which Mitch Hedberg was snatched from us. So listen to all three of his albums on Spotify, damn you, because that’s some good comedy.

Nick Swardson

Goddamnit, Nick Swardson looks Minnesotan. But honestly, if I could just have Spotify show me a never-ending loop of Terry bits from Reno 911 I would die from starvation due to never leaving my computer.

Maria Bamford

Maria Bamford is a woman whose name I could never remember but I kept wanting to see more of her comedy. It took me nearly ten times of seeing her Comedy Central specials (in the days before on-screen guides) to catch and remember her name. Now I remember it and I am telling you: listen, idiot!

Bonus!

These are two bonus tracks from comics who aren’t from Minnesota, but who are talking about Minnesota.

Lewis Black: Minnesota Winters

Weird Al: The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota

Turns out I’ve got
a venerable disease,
not what I thought.

I get frustrated with my fellow Minnesotans who love to rag on Garrison Keillor for not being funny. Yes, he’s grumpy and crotchety in his dealings with his neighbors. Yes, he talks as low and slow. But we, as Minnesotans and as comedy lovers, cannot escape the fact that what Garrison Keillor does on his radio program is comedy. It is likely the safest comedy available today, but that does not mean the intent is not to make the audience laugh, nor does it mean the audience rolls their eyes. Similar arguments are made against the KQ Morning Show: they’re crass bigots, therefore what they are doing is not, at least in part, comedy. While the defense of that show deserves its own treatment on another day, the basic principle is the same: just because it’s not your style, does not mean it’s not comedy.

And the audience loves the humor in the News from Lake Wobegon*, and not out of some sense of sympathy. This is genuine Minnesota humor; the very essence of the comedy is drawn from a rural Minnesota sensibility, and yes, it can be quite milquetoast, but the jokes are never cheap or obvious and never draw applause instead of laughter. That is something no talk show host can claim—not even our beloved Conan.

It makes sense, considering the varietal nature of A Prairie Home Companion, that the News from Lake Wobegon segment has been put into a stand alone podcast. A podcast is an exceptional venue for this segment, which lasts just under ten minutes. You can get all the Garrison Keillor you need for the week (the thoughtful story he writes weekly, which is all I like about the show) and you don’t have to skip around a massive audio track or sit in your car listening to yet another gospel song hoping the News is next. It’s above average!

*I must admit, I have always loved the pun “Wobegon.”

Here lies Rusty, beloved companion,
Bather in stinks, unearther of bones,
The irony is palpable.

God is great,
God is good,
The worms sure thank Him
For this food.

Let us here mark our remembrance
Of Tommy “The Mouth” DiBocca
May he rest in peace, forever,
With the fishes.

When Melissa’s flesh has turned to dust,
Take comfort that the best of her remains:
Her memory, her poetry, her breasts.

Here lies Jesus
But not for long.

But fear not! This will provide two extra days of Minnesota-based hilarity each week for the rest of infinity. And now, this…