Overconfident, the Tom Shillue CD is solid, clean, pretty original stand-up comedy.
That it somehow fails to leave an impression could be my fault. Shillue is an observational comic and his take on recent social foibles, such as he is dieting to gain weight, has a pretty original twist, and whose interest in the words we use (a favorite topic of mine) such as “wait a few moments”, fresh. You can immediately see Tom Shillue is good but I wish there was something that made this stand-up comic and his comedy CD stand out.
Though there are some really good short routines on Tom Shillue Overconfident such as Flashlight Tag, Surgical Errors, and the brilliant and very Freudian Good Catholic, and the comic knows not to milk the routine, the reason this comedy CD to be a little less than it could have been is some routines could have been expanded to greater effect. I have a preference for longer routines and Shillue never spends more than three minutes on a given topic consequently not many routines really stay with the listener.
For example, though a lot of comics these days cover Lord of the Rings (it seems there are a lot of nerds or dorks in a comedy club). Shillue has a very original story about being a kid, knowing when the family tree of Tolkien’s characters, and dipping the maps in tea to make them look more authentic. I really think this could have been comedy gold if expanded.
Then again, another standard comedy topic is the Men Are From Mars book and the comic does a very short bit on that and though his take is original I was kind of glad he did not expand as the topic is getting worn.
All in all, Tom Shillue Overconfident is a solid but not memorable stand-up comedy CD
Tom Shillue
Overconfident
Stand-up Comedy CD
B Seen Media 2007
39 minutes
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Good but not great if you like long form or clean stand-up.
