The Ten Best Comedy Albums of 2021
It’s our eighth annual list of the ten best albums in comedy, and 2021 was another great year for albums. The clubs have reopened, and everyone is recording albums to create another revenue stream, so some albums aren’t even released for sale, but are played on services like SiriusXM, Pandora and Spotify. We always try to keep this category pure so we did not consider any albums that were initially recorded as specials, and tried to limit the list to albums recorded recently. But everything on our list was created as an album, meant for your ears, whether by purchase, or via streaming services.
Honorable mentions to Jessica Kirson & Rachel Feinstein who put out the first ever album of pranks done by women, The Call Girls. Also Adam Cayton-Holland Hot Takes, Tone Bell’s One Night in Austin, Gianmarco Soresei’s Shelf Life, and Rojo Perez’s Words.
Last year, Bonnie McFarlane won for her album Bird Calls. In 2019, Rich Vos scored a win for album of the year for When I Saw Hamilton. In 2018 Adam Ferrara won album of the year. In 2017 you gave the award to Joe DeRosa, in 2016 you overwhelmingly picked Rich Vos V as your favorite album of the year, and in 2015, Jay Mohr won In 2014, and our first annual album of the year award went to Big Jay Oakerson.
Don’t forget you can also vote now for Comedian of the Year! Vote forComedy Movie of the Year! Vote for Comedy TV Series of the Year! Vote for Comedy Special of the Year! Vote for Best Comedy Book of the Year! Vote for the Best Comedy Album of the Year!
On to the top 10! Voting is open now!
JON FISCH. HINGED. John recorded his third album at Gotham Comedy Club in New York City, and it is easily one of the funniest albums this year. Fisch is a New York stand up staple, and a national headliner who also performs regularly at The New York Comedy Cellar. His album covers plenty of ground but focuses on his life in the last year. It was a big year for him, and not because of Covid, or at least not directly. In the span of one year, Jon met a girl on a dating app, Hinge, fell in love, got pregnant, had a baby and moved in with his girlfriend. All in one year. Which means he also experienced all the stages of a relationship in a very protracted time period- like making contact, going on an actual date, getting physical, getting to know each other, teaching his girlfriend about being culturally Jewish (his girlfriend, now wife, is Irish, Jon is Jewish). getting pregnant, becoming a dad, getting physical while pregnant and all the in-law family phases too. All of this is great for Jon because while every other comedian was trying to figure what to talk to on stage once the lockdown lifted, Fisch had that angle more than covered. He also covers the fascinating shampoo habits of bald men, mutual masturbation, and poetry.
Tracks: Tiny Head, Big Year, My Intended, Teaching Jewish, Suburban Summer Camp, Red Wine Mouth, Coffee Meets Bagel, Staircase, Eight Days, Sciatic Nerve Episode, Poem to Tallulah, Sit Down Style, Side by Side
LAURIE KILMARTIN. CORSET. Laurie’s new album produced by 800 Pound Gorilla Records at the San Francisco Punchline, is full of great bits. Great comedy comes from strong writing and a killer delivery and Kilmartin has nailed both in Corset. Much of the hour focuses on questioning life decision, particularly the ones that led to her being a single mom. She’s pro-choice but maybe made the wrong choice. Maybe she considered leaving her son on the church steps, and yes, she sometimes fantasizes about hitting her head on a rock and dying, but that doesn’t make her a bad mother. Kilmartin is able to work through all the social, psychological and philosophical complexities that come with motherhood and particularly being a single mom, and keep it really funny and edgy every single time. One of the best albums of the year, you will love Corset.
Tracks: Human Shit, Masturbation Etiquette, Love Dies Children Live, Dead Uncles, No Means No, Loose Knees, Dogs are Replaceable, Cops at My House, I Wanted to Name Him, Period Panties, Do Not Resuscitate, Right Size Penis
ELEANOR KERRIGAN. LADY LIKE. Eleanor Kerrigan is the filthiest, raunchiest, dirtiest comic touring today. Not the dirtiest female comic. The dirtiest comic. Her first full length album, Lady Like is a perfect showcase of her talents. If you’re not familiar yet, Kerrigan was raised as one of 10 kids in a South Philly row home, and that Philadelphia street funny style is forever a part of her core. Her album, like her comedy is very explicit, this is not PC comedy. The album was recorded, appropriately enough, in Jersey where audiences don’t offend easily, and the first track, titled “Cocksuckers and Mexicans” tells you a lot about what you can expect from the album. Kerrigan’s storytelling style is almost cinematic- you can picture all of the craziness going down in your head as she takes you through an encounter with a Mexican workman who doesn’t know there’s a lockdown. A true blue collar linguist, who is creating catchphrases on the fly. She delivers such poetry as “I was walking around my apartment, puff out, no pants…and there’s a Mexican in the window.” And not even her good friends Andrew Dice Clay, or Jimmy Shubert could get away with the number of times she says clit in a space of five minutes. Thank her later for finally making female masturbation as funny as it should be. Get Lady Like and laugh out loud.
Tracks: Cocksuckers and Mexicans, Rosary Beads, Sharing a Room with Boys, Sex Change Denied, Pro Lifers, Montessori School, Can’t Change Old People, Racist, Escape Room, New School Parent, Rollerskate Outfit, Pole Dancing, Stripper Name, Back to LA.
LIL REL HOWERY: HUMBLY VULNERABLE. Lil Rel Howery has become a genuine star ever since his career making role in 2017’s Get Out, later followed by Bird Box, The Carmichael Show, Free Guy, Bad Trip, Fatherhood, and his own series, Rel. He’s so in demand right now- he’s got eight roles either in production or development. Let’s face it, he doesn’t need stand up, But this brand new recorded hour is something he wanted to do, which is a strong indicator that its going to be great. One of the best tracks take a brutally honest look at how the pandemic has fucked up his long standing habit of avoiding family events. Rel also has great advice for how to achieve workplace diversity, and by the time you’re done with Humbly Vulnerable, you will 100% be trying to figure out what type of old N***** you’re going to be when you get up there in years. The audience in the room is in tears, and you will be as well.
Tracks: I Got a Suit On, Zoom Family Time, Kids Online, Daddy/Daughter Moment, Pandemic Loneliness, Facetime Dating, Health is Wealth, The White Riot, Protesting, My Kids Messin With Me, Baecation, Dollar Tree Experience, Grown Ass Relationship, I Hate Surprises, Actors, Corona Shopping, The New Racist, George W and Inauguration, Hollyweird, Old Black Man Outfits, Smokey Robinson, Zoom Church, Bouncer with a Temperature Machine, City Girls, Floyd Mayweather, End/KWELI TV
BEN ROY. TAKE THE SANDWICH. BenRoy hails from the comedy halls of the Denver comedy scene as part of the revered comedy trio, The Grawlix. This new album is Ben Roy’s fourth. It’s also the second time he’s made it onto our Top Ten Albums of the Year list. His 2018 album Ooze Your Illusions, was very, very dark. And we loved it. His new album is significantly lighter and just as funny. A little background- Ben is a tatted up, punk rock musician, the product of many years of being in bands, and he’s been sober now for ten years. He has a 14 year old son, who he talks about on the album to illustrate that kids aren’t different, they’re a lot like we were at their age. Except they have changed, and they are a lot different. “My son turned 14, he spent his fourteenth birthday at a roller skating rink,” he tell us. “And do you know what they did there?” he asks, his voice rising. “They fucking roller skated! Do you know what I’ve never done in the 100s of times I went to a roller skating rink as a teenager? I never put on a pair of skates once.” He goes on to describe the current state of roller skating rinks, unpacking every detail for giant laughs. Ben Roy is criminally underexposed, and you can do your part to fix that by buying, streaming or stealing this album from a friend.
Tracks: 2020 Laughs at Us All, Rolling Skating Rinks, Adults who Roller Skate, Tiny Faced Housewives, Do You Jewel? Feminism Has Gone Too Far, Weddings Are Terrible, I Dig Swingers, Monogamy is Weird, Short Moment of Earnestness, Breakups Are Hilarious, Born to Run, Take. The Fucking. Sandwich.
JEFF DYE. DUMB IS GOODER. If you don’t know Jeff Dye from his stand up then you may remember him as the host of the tv show Better Late Than Never, where he toured the world with Henry Winkler, Terry Bradshaw, Will Shatner and George Foreman. Or from the season where he came in third on Last Comic Standing. But you should also know him for his stand up and if you don’t, this new album is the perfect opportunity. This is Jeff’s second album and if you want to laugh without thinking about the state of the world, this is your album. Jeff isn’t smart- he tells you that right in the title. But Dumb is Gooder, and happier and much more fun. Be more like your dogs, he explains. “Ever grab a golden retrievers face and ask if it’s sad about the current administration in the White House? They don’t give a fuck. It’s a better way to live. My heroes are just dogs.” Jeff is your new best friend, he is your golden retriever who can also make you laugh like its 2019 and you’ve never heard the word lockdown unless someone was talking about a prison riot.
Tracks: Mexico. Drinking. I’m Happy. Focus on the Good. Look at the Bright Side. The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me. Dumb is Gooder. I Met a Republican. Comedy Can Be Tough. Hip Hop & the N Word. DJ Khaled. Bible Times. Being Single. Relationships. Bedroom Stuff. Full Bad Cowboy.
RIVER BUTCHER. PULL YOURSELF UP BY YOUR BOOTLEG. Recorded pre-pandemic in Denver, Pull Yourself Up By Your Bootleg is River’s (formerly Rhea, in case the album art is confusing you) second album, and it covers a lot of funny ground. River was raised in small town Ohio, in a community without a lot of LGBTQ role models, which means lots of material to work with, including some very confusing parental advice. Butcher also talks about gender pronouns and its great to have someone delivering material about pronouns that goes deeper than some dude complaining about having to learn new things. They talk about puppy training, and really loving gummies, and the highlight of the album is a story about the very first time River hit on someone while attending art school in Ohio. It’s not only a great story, but it includes a great tip on how to use a vegetable tray at a party to figure out where in the country you are. River’s “Dad Advice” stories, are so funny, and if you didn’t know that therapy parakeets or therakeets were a thing, you will find out.
Tracks: Intro/Trunk Full, Denver Halloween and Me, Art School, Back to Ohio Pt 1 and 2, Gender Stuff, Mountain Dew, Murph, Riffs/Interlude, Air Travel, Dad Advice, Dad Google, Pot Bellied Pig, Gummies, Lyfts, Get Off Your Phone It’s an Emergency
ALINGON MITRA. AM I ON? If you were a fan of Last Comic Standing you may remember Alingon Mitra. He made his television debut on the show, got eliminated fairly early, but then for five weeks in a row, he got brought back from elimination by overwhelming audience vote, even beating out established headliners some weeks. Alingon is smart. Harvard Smart. But he’s also really funny on stage. His first album, Am I On hasn’t been released for purchase yet, but you can hear the album on SiriusXM and streaming services. Alingon has a lot of good questions. Why do we call it a marathon when we sit and watch television for hours? How does Netflix have so much money when nobody has their own account? In Harry Potter, why would we believe that a family that can do magic is living in poverty? Which is the smuggest generation? And much more. If you can’t get the album, just wait. You’re going to hear much more from him in the years to come.
Tracks: Antidisestablishmentarianism, Bawling on a Budget, Born Which Way, Bro Do You Even Lift, Dress for the Wife You Want, Enthusiastic Consent, First World Problems, Game Set Match, JKJK Rowling, My Conversation with Katy Perry, NPR vs Fox News, Obama Didn’t Take My Gun, Only the Good Die Early, Rewatching Disney Movies, School What is It Good For, Solar Eclipse of the heart, Antisocial Network, Dumb Knight Rises, Smuggest Generation, This Isn’t Ghosting, Tips for Meeting Peoiple, Welcome You’ve Got Old
JAMES MATTERN. THE CHECK SPOT. James Mattern comes in with one of the most creative albums this year. Titled “The Check Spot,” this album is exactly that. It’s an entire album recorded during the infamous “check spot” well known to be death for any comedian on stage. To speed up turnover of the room for the next show, every comedy club on the planet hands out checks to the tables while the show is still going on. And every single comedy club patron on the planet stops listening to the comedian on stage, and starts studying that check, confused about how many beers they had, or why a flatbread costs so much. James Mattern saw that challenge and said yes, I accept. The energy of the album is James just trying to keep the attention of a room full of people who don’t want to be there anymore. And it’s one of the only albums you’ll ever hear where the comic gets boo’ed in the middle of it, and he goes with it. This is an album that will make comedians laugh, and it will make you laugh. One of the most unique of the year. The Check Spot was the debut album release from a brand new label, Pinch Records.
Tracks: Where Do You Think I’m From, Florida Loves Drugs, Ohio, Moderna Arm, Porn, Sing a Prince Song, Celeb Fight, Spirit Animal, This is Where I Get Booed, Dickname, Do You Like Dogs, Virginity, Most Annoying, One Last Question.
CAITLIN PELUFFO. LIVE IN GRAND RAPIDS. There’s a good chance you aren’t familiar with Caitlin yet, but that will change in the next few years. Caitlin is the young comic on the scene that everyone’s talking about as one of the next wave. She’s from San Francisco, she lives in Brooklyn, and she has opened for a whose who in comedy list- Maria Bamford, Gilbert Gottfried, Gary Gulman to name a few. Her new album is not yet available anywhere for purchase but you can hear it streaming on SiriusXM and Pandora, and its great. She talks about the utter failure of sex education, having sex with line cooks, the real walk of shame that comes from not remembering which bar you left your debit card at, and why pretty boys are the best.
Tracks: Banana Plan B, Coworkers Walk of Shame, Drinking Dickslayer, Eye Contact A Mothers Love, Pretty Boys Big Dick Energy, Sister Ronald Catcalling, Thigh Gap Always Naked
