Tim Slagle – Evolution – The Best of Slagle Vol. 1

A different yardstick is used here for stand-up comedy greatest hits albums.

Are the various routines truly hits? In the case of Evolution: The Best of Slagle Vol. 1 the answer is absolutely. Have all the bits aged well? In this case, not all of them.  Overall though, this is a solid bang for your comedy download dollar.

Evolution Vol. 1 is not a collection of bits culled from other albums but a set where Tim Slagle performs his best material. This is good because it gives the finished product an overall unified tone instead of sounding clipped. I did notice a couple of abrupt cuts between tracks, especially from track 1 to 2.

The best of these greatest hits are “St. Paddy” on how we can stereotype the Irish but no other group safely, an especially vicious Kennedy bit, and “St. Darwin”.

My one reservation relates to aged references. I understand it is impossible to change a Clinton reference when doing a Clinton bit that has been a hit. I am a little more irritated when Tim Slagle does not bother to update other references when it would have been easy to do so without changing the pay-off. For example, in “Electric Avenue” the comic refers to the EV1, the electric car GM produced between 1996 and 99 (as seen in Who Killed the Elecric Car?) when any recent electric car reference would have worked.  Only people from Quebec will notice his reference to Montreal being without power for two months goes back to 1998 so I did.

There are a couple of rather facile, generic jokes here such as why it is safe to make fun of the Amish. Not that it really lowers the entertainment value of this comedy album.

If you are looking for good, clean, grown up material, Evolution: The Best of Tim Slagle is a good bet. I am looking forward to Vol. 2

Evolution
The Best of Slagle Vol. 1
Tim Slagle
Stand-up comedy download
Stand Up! Records 2014

Stand Up! Records has lots of great comedy we’ve reviewed here.

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