Listening to the Jake Johannsen stand-up comedy CD Jake This Dot Com gives the impression he is a good, middle of the road stand-up comic.
It also hits Jake Johannsen could be a little more edgy and original. There are some really great moments here but they are bookended by the kind of material your basic club comic does night in and night out. Basically, there is not enough Johannsen on Jake This Dot Com to make this CD stand out.
Jake Johannsen likes to puddle jump from short bit to short bit in a seemingly spur of the moment conversational style. There is something to be said about a stand-up comic not giving the impression he is just going through is pre-established set but I am not sure this false off the cuff style allows the really good material to shine. There are quite a few excellent highly original observational short bits, such as the Republicans moving the Washington Monument a little bit to the right, Nashville being a living museum of the history of hairdos, that I wish had been expanded on. This explains why my favorite bit here is the 8 minute long The Secret of Men, a good, original relationship comedy bit.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of facile flotsam and jetsam between the solid moments. There are only so many Governor Ahnold jokes you can hear in a lifetime, and some of the material on this Jake Johannsen comedy CD like the SARS and the mad cow bit were already dated at the time Jake This Dot Com was recorded at the D.C. Improv in 2005.
In the end, Jake This Dot Com by Jake Johannsen is a frustrating experience because you keep getting the feeling it all could have been so much better.
Jake Johannsen
Jake This Dot Com
Independent Release Stand-up Comedy CD
2006
69 minutes
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