It is mission accomplished for stand-up comic Tom Shillue. A year ago Shillue set out to release one comedy mp3 album a month for 12 consecutive months and Don’t Force It is the 12th such album. Overall, Shillue’s 12 MP3s are pretty good. This one is a good reflection of this comic’s and this series’ strengths and weaknesses. One thing for sure, at 1.99 per title, you have little to lose.
Don’t Force It features two fifteen-minute routines. The first, Uncle Bobby, is a biographical story aboout one of Shillue’s uncles who was, as was known back then, slow. Or was he? Here, the comic delivers a full-fledged story with a satisfying conclusion. I have always been a fan of long form stand-up and this is a particularly good one.
Christmas is a story about still being convinced Santa exists when everyone else says the contrary, a story about a Christmas present and what went wrong, and a take on a few old school Christmas TV specials like Rudolph and A Year Without Santa Claus. This track is also a good representation of Tom Shillue’s comedy as it is a bit superficial but, and mostly, because the stand-up comic sets up something and then does not deliver on it. In this case it is what was inside the presents he and his brother soaked in water because their father’s friend had made a joke about there being bombs inside so they should be soaked in water first.
Don’t Force It
Tom Shillue
Stand-up Comedy MP3 album
BSeenMedia 2013
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Good but not great if you like long form or clean stand-up.
