Welcome to a new feature called CNReviews! Sometimes we are lucky enough to receive press streams of upcoming comedy albums and specials. We’ll review them here. —CNU Editors
Like most people of a certain age, I have a lot of fond memories of Bob Saget from my childhood. If you’re expecting his latest comedy special to have that sort of warm, sepia toned, sweater wearing comfort of a Full House episode or a segment of America’s Funniest Home Videos, maybe look something classic on YouTube instead.
If you’re not passingly familiar with what Saget has been doing onstage in recent years, it is clearly a concerted effort to get away from the Danny Tanner image that he was known for in the early 1990s. Which, on the surface, is a worthy undertaking. Who wouldn’t want to tackle that image head on? The first time I was exposed to Saget’s new image (or perhaps, old image that he could now return to post-Full House) was in the very good documentary The Aristocrats. His segment is one of the funnier, longer, and almost uncomfortably self aware versions of the old vaudeville joke that gets featured in the doc, and it’s definitely worth watching.
This album plays like a longer version of that joke, which isn’t to say that it’s funny or classic, but that it plays as material from a faraway time that doesn’t hold much resonance today. There are much more offensive things than talking about genitalia and poop and while I’m not sure there is such a thing as a poop joke with nuance, such a thing was not even attempted here. Clearly, the direct opposite of Danny Tanner is vulgarity, and specifically sexual vulgarity and body humor which (when done well) can be really funny and subversive! This, at least to my ears, is not that that kind of humor. The majority of the album’s running time is dedicated to crowd work, sex jokes about underage girls, and toilet humor-this is not me passing judgement, the jokes are literally about diarrhea.
The best parts of the album are when Saget discusses his time on Full House. During these bits about his co-stars, Saget proves himself to be an extremely good storyteller, and the timing on those bits (while not bringing out belly laughs) provides some funny insight about what it’s like behind the scenes at such a stiflingly family friendly TV show.
Bob Saget’s “That’s What I’m Talkin’ About" hits stores (you know, like iTunes and Amazon), on July 16th.
CNU Editor Sarah was once a member of the Facebook group “I’d Take A Bullet for Bob Saget." She tweets here.