Faith Choyce – Sex, Drugs & Unicorns

Sex, Drugs & Unicorns
Faith Choyce
Stand-up Comedy CD
Independent Release

This is a decent enough stand-up comedy CD by a comic who is better than her recorded material.

That is the feeling I keep getting when listening to Sex, Drugs & Unicorn by Faith Choyce. There is no doubt Choyce has the tools and the stage persona but some of the material is a bit thin and some good premises like Dog Park or Defensive Driving Instructor are undeveloped.

Perhaps I am influenced by the thin and not particularly bright audience at the comedy club this CD was recorded. This seems to force Faith Choyce to overemphasize or repeat some of the punch lines and this takes away from the overall listening experience and the material.

Comparisons are basically unfair but Choyce has a Maria Bamford (on her good days) style and sensitivity. Her segues such as from Dog Park to Get In the Van are generally decent but sometimes inexistent like from the lost cat joke to the kidnapped woman. Segues allow the audience to follow the bouncing ball and this audience needed all the help it could get.

This stand-up comic does very short bits usually based on a very quirky look at things and this too needs the audience to be set up correctly. Choyce is also a smart comic, something obvious in the too short and undeveloped Original Lesbians bit.

Some young comics could use a bit more background in stand-up comedy.  Art school teaches the masters so painters can develop their own palette. Learning from your contemporaries is a bit limited and limiting. This comic might benefit from listening to classics such as Newhart’s Driving School Instructor. Newhart has a totally different sensitivity but maximizes a premise similar to Choyce’s.

Sound wise Sex, Drugs and Unicorns is flawless, audience aside.

I am very much looking forward to Choyce’s next stand-up comedy CD, this time recorded in front of a live live audience.

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