Shakespeare (album)

Last updated
Shakespeare
Shakespeare (AJ).jpg
Live album by
ReleasedSeptember 21, 2010
RecordedMay 2010
Venue UCB Theatre, New York City
Genre Comedy
Length48:40
Label Comedy Central Records
Anthony Jeselnik chronology
Shakespeare
(2010)
Caligula
(2013)

Shakespeare is the debut album by comedian Anthony Jeselnik released digitally on September 21, 2010 by Comedy Central Records. [1]

Contents

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Pleased to Meet You"2:54
2."Standards and Practices"4:02
3."School Sucks"4:34
4."Bad Parents"3:06
5."Fun Family"2:30
6."Romance"2:49
7."Seduction"5:02
8."Odd Jobs"4:34
9."Sacrilege"3:17
10."Bad, Bad Things"5:47
11."Can't Make Fun"1:35
12."Baby Go Bye Bye"5:30
13."Shakespeare"2:59

Bonus track

No.TitleLength
1."Ninja"4:59

A bonus track released separately and used to help promote the album. It features Anthony berating an audience member who interrupted his set by shouting, "Ninja". [2]

Reception

Shakespeare was met with extremely positive reviews. Napster claimed "[His] outstanding writing and shameless self-promotion bordering on cult of personality are a winning combination. One of the best comedy albums of the season." [3] Punchline Magazine's Brendan McLaughlin praised the album stating, "Anthony Jeselnik writes great jokes—plain and simple. He’s a master of the one-two punch. Now, he’s not the only game in town when it comes to slinging one liners, but he’s one of the best, and here’s why: Jeselnik’s stand-up embodies one of the most distinct, specific, unflinching comic personas on the scene today." [4] The same publication then even chose it as its comedy album of the year. Saying, "Despite his relatively young age (he’s 31 as of this writing), Jeselnik is one of the best joke writers in comedy. His album Shakespeare is that confirmation. From start to finish, he delivers pristine, precise and economical bits with the polish of a 20-year stand-up veteran. There was a lot of solid comedy released this year; but no other album gave us as rich an experience as Shakespeare. [5]

Chart positions

Chart (2010)Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Comedy Albums [6] 2

Related Research Articles

Steven Wright American comedian (born 1955)

Steven Alexander Wright is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and film producer. He is known for his distinctly lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jokes, paraprosdokians, non sequiturs, anti-humor, and one-liners with contrived situations.

Lewis Black American stand-up comedian, actor, author, playwright, and social critic

Lewis Niles Black is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion, or any other cultural trends.

Mitch Hedberg American stand-up comedian (1968–2005)

Mitchell Lee Hedberg was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and deadpan delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes mixed with absurd elements and non sequiturs.

Jimmy Carr British-Irish comedian and television presenter

James Anthony Patrick Carr is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor. He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners, for which he has been both praised and criticised. He began his comedy career in 2000, at the age of 28, and has regularly appeared on television since 2002 as the host of Channel 4 panel shows such as 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year.

Jeff Foxworthy American comedian, actor, writer, producer, television personality, radio personality and author

Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, TV/radio personality, and author. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, with Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and Ron White. Known for his "You might be a redneck" one-liners, Foxworthy has released six major-label comedy albums. His first two albums were each certified 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Foxworthy has written several books based on his redneck jokes, as well as an autobiography entitled No Shirt, No Shoes... No Problem!

Dane Cook American actor and comedian

Dane Jeffrey Cook is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released six comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed; Retaliation; Vicious Circle; Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden; and Isolated Incident. In 2006, Retaliation became the highest charting comedy album in 28 years and went platinum. He performed an HBO special in late 2006, Vicious Circle, a straight-to-DVD special titled Rough Around The Edges, and a Comedy Central special in 2009 titled Isolated Incident. He is known for his use of observational, often vulgar, and sometimes dark comedy.

Greg Giraldo American comedian

Gregory Carlos Giraldo was an American stand-up comedian, television personality, and lawyer. He is remembered for his appearances on Comedy Central's televised roast specials, and for his work on that network's television shows Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, Lewis Black's Root of All Evil, and the programming block Stand-Up Nation, the last of which he hosted.

Russell Peters Canadian comedian and actor (born 1970)

Russell Dominic Peters is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, and producer. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and won a Gemini Award in 2008. In 2013, he was number three on Forbes' list of the world's highest-paid comedians, and became the first comedian to get a Netflix stand-up special. He also won the Peabody Award and the International Emmy Award for Best Arts Programming for producing Hip-Hop Evolution (2016). He lives in Los Angeles.

Mike Birbiglia American comedian, actor, director, producer, and writer

Mike Birbiglia is an American stand-up comedian, actor, storyteller, director, producer and writer. He is a frequent contributor to This American Life and The Moth, and has released several comedy albums and television specials. His feature-length directorial debut Sleepwalk with Me (2012), based on his one-man show of the same name and in which he also starred, won awards at the Sundance and Nantucket film festivals. He also wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy-drama Don't Think Twice (2016). His 2010 book Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the 2011 Thurber Prize for American Humor. Birbiglia has appeared in films such as Your Sister's Sister (2011), Cedar Rapids (2011), and Trainwreck (2015), played a recurring role in Orange Is the New Black, Billions and has guest starred in episodes of Girls, Inside Amy Schumer, and Broad City. He will also be replacing Jimmy Kimmel on his talk show for a while, as Kimmel caught COVID-19.

Doug Benson American comedian and TV host

Douglas Steven Benson is an American comedian, marijuana rights advocate, television host and actor, best known for hosting the podcasts and TV series Doug Loves Movies (2006-present), The Benson Interruption (2010-2013), Getting Doug with High (2013-2019) and The High Court with Doug Benson (2017). As a comedian, he has released 10 comedy albums, starting with Professional Humoredian in 2008, and has regularly appeared on TV shows including Comedy Central Presents, Best Week Ever and @midnight. In 2007, he was a contestant on the 5th season of the reality competition show Last Comic Standing.

Eddie Ifft is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer.

Bo Burnham American comedian and musician

Robert Pickering "Bo" Burnham is an American comedian, musician, actor, and filmmaker. He began his career on YouTube in 2006, with his videos gaining over 575 million views as of April 2022.

Dan Cummins is an American stand-up comedian and podcast host. His first comedy album, Revenge is Near, distributed by Warner Bros. Records, was ranked as one of the top 10 comedy CDs of 2009 by Punchline Magazine. His first hour-long special for Comedy Central, titled Crazy With A Capital F, premiered May 29, 2010. He was a co-host for The Playboy Morning Show and hosts multiple podcasts: Timesuck, since 2016; Scared to Death, with his wife Lynze, since 2019; and Is We Dumb with Joseph Paisley, since 2020.

Anthony Jeselnik American actor and stand-up comedian

Anthony Jeselnik is an American comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is known for his dark comedy style, which emphasizes ironic misdirection, non sequiturs, biting insults, an arrogant demeanor, and a stage persona that frequently takes amoral stances.

<i>Hilarious</i> (film) 2010 American film

Hilarious is the fourth concert film and stand-up comedy album by American comedian and director Louis C.K. It was filmed and recorded at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee.

This is a comprehensive discography for Comedy Central Records, the record label of American cable channel Comedy Central.

Kurt Metzger American actor

Kurt Metzger is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor. He won an Emmy and Peabody Award for his work on the television series Inside Amy Schumer.

<i>The Jeselnik Offensive</i>

The Jeselnik Offensive is an American late-night television series that aired on Comedy Central. It was hosted by stand-up comedian Anthony Jeselnik, who extended his onstage character into weekly, topical humor with a sociopathic, dark twist. The show primarily consisted of a monologue and two panelists who joined Jeselnik in adding a humorous take on shocking, lurid news stories. The series premiered February 19, 2013, on Comedy Central and was renewed for a second season on April 26, 2013, and aired July 9, 2013. On November 11, 2013, Comedy Central cancelled The Jeselnik Offensive after two seasons, due to low ratings.

Shane Mauss American comedian and podcast host

Shane Mauss is an American comedian from Onalaska, Wisconsin. Between 2010 and 2015, he released three comedy albums, one of which has been released as a television special; he also stars in the documentary film Psychonautics: A Comic's Exploration Of Psychedelics (2018). He hosts the Here We Are podcast (2014–present), in which he interviews scientists and academics from across the country, and co-hostsMind Under Matter, a comedy/science podcast.

<i>what.</i> 2013 live album by Bo Burnham

what. is a 2013 stand-up comedy routine and album by American comedian Bo Burnham. It is his first show following his 2010 comedy special Words Words Words. Like the majority of Burnham's live work, the show consists of musical comedy, prop comedy, miming, observational jokes, and the inversion of established comedy clichés. It received positive reviews.

References

  1. Comedy Central Press | COMEDY CENTRAL Records, ANTHONY JESELNIK’S "SHAKESPEARE" TO BE RELEASED DIGITALLY BY COMEDY CENTRAL RECORDS ON SEPTEMBER 21.
  2. Anthony Jeselnik's Website, Ninja.
  3. Napster Archived 2010-10-04 at the Wayback Machine , Anthony Jeselnik, Shakespeare.
  4. Punchline Magazine, Anthony Jeselnik: Shakespeare.
  5. Punchline Magazine, The 10 Best Comedy Albums of 2010.
  6. Billboard, Comedy Albums 10/11/10.