Standup Comedy - Harland Williams - Har-Larious (2005)

I recently pulled a large number of comedy albums from a variety of sources. Some of them were ready to go, some needed tag fixing, some needed to be converted from FLAC to something humans use, and some were old LP rips from vinyl that were torrented as a single mp3 file, regardless of track. I am releasing these with this generic disclaimer at the top to save the time of having to explain each one individually. These are released AS IS, and lower bit rate albums cannot be re-torrented as higher quality as I do not HAVE the original albums. I am just doing what I can to make sure as much standup comedy as possible is out there on the public trackers and not just on private ones. Much thanks to all the original OPs, especially those folks who have ripped older LP albums that are so much harder to find than more recent stuff. Wherever possible, I have fixed tags, included album notes and artwork, and listed the album tracks. As a lover of comedy, I hope some of you younger folks take a chance on loading some of the older and perhaps unknown (to YOU!) stuff, and giving it a chance. There WAS comedy before Daniel Tosh and Tim Minchin, and some of it was freaking brilliant. Try to expand your repertoire. Enjoy.



Harland Williams ΓΓé¼ΓÇ£ Har-larious ΓΓé¼ΓÇ£ 2005

Review by David Jeffries

Artist, actor, musician, and -- believe it or not -- children's author Harland Williams can definitely be Har-Larious, but it takes awhile for him to get there on his Comedy Central debut. He's simply telling jokes at the beginning of this St. Louis-sourced show and they're hit or miss, mostly hit but sometimes uncomfortably miss. He seems tripped-up by the non-reaction some of his jokes receive, but after a couple hit the target, he relaxes and lets loose his inner Harland. This means stringing together nonsensical words to explain improbable situations or interacting with the audience in an acerbic way that suggests Don Rickles on acid. The fact that the whole front row seems to work at the same Arbys sets Williams off on a funny bit that displays his underexposed skills at improv. His bit on the "Al Quedas" attacking buildings with blimps is very funny, but like a whole lot of Har-Larious, seeing the chin-less wonder deliver it would be even better. Mitch Hedberg and Dane Cook got the deluxe treatment from Comedy Central with loaded CD/DVD combos being released before Williams' mere CD. It's a shame, since the audience's enthusiastic laughter at what are just pauses on-disc must mean the rubbery one is doing the facial contortions and awkward movements that play no small part in his rise to cult fame. As it is, Har-Larious is beneficial to the fan since his earlier, self-released albums are hard to come by, but unfortunately, this isn't the breakthrough package it could have been.


1 Restaurants 4:57
2 Sense of Humor 4:49
3 Al Quedas 6:37
4 Body Enhancement 5:03
5 Tattoos 3:51
6 Cars 2:26
7 Animals and Corn 7:46
8 My Buddy Larry 3:24
9 Eating 3:26
10 Harland in the Sack 2:27



Biography by David Jeffries

The unpredictable, strange, and uninhibited standup comic Harland Williams is also a musician, an actor, and an artist and writer of children's books. Born in Toronto, Ontario, the artistically inclined Williams aimed to refine his passion for drawing and painting at Canada's prestigious Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. Childlike curiosity combined with his love of art drove him to create a series of popular children's books in which a similarly curious young dinosaur named Lickety Split embarks on a series of amazing adventures and learns important life lessons in the process.

Finding a creative outlet in poetry and painting while working as a forest ranger for five years after dropping out of Sheridan College, Williams eventually decided to move to L.A. and channel his creativity into standup and comedic acting. While touring the comedy club circuit in the '80s he released his first comedy album, When Rhubarb Turns to Radish, by himself and only on cassette. His film career kicked off in 1994 with an appearance in Dumb and Dumber. Appearances on late-night television talk shows and Comedy Central specials ran parallel with more work in Hollywood, including his starring role in the 1997 Disney film Rocketman and a major part in the 1998 stoner comedy Half-Baked.

The early 2000s found him self-releasing his second comedy CD, Crowd Control, and forming the band Cousins with his cousin Kevin Hearn from Barenaked Ladies. Cousins' debut CD, The Love Song Years, appeared in 2004 and was followed a year later by Williams' third standup album and first for the Comedy Central label, Har-Larious.



http://allmusic.com/album/har-larious-r805235/review


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