Artist: Anjelah Johnson
Album: That’s How We Do It
Genre: Comedy
Label: Comedy Central

I’m pretty sure MadTV hasn’t exactly been anyone’s main source for comedy in about half a decade, but it still lives on. In its 13th Season, former cheerleader and stand up comedian Anjelah Johnson quietly joined the cast and brought her character Bon Qui Qui [seen HERE] to life. This lead to a Youtube sensation that has now received over 29 million plays and that’s the kind of number the people who control entertainment notice. Fast forward to now, Anjelah Johnson has become a standup sensation and landed a record deal with Comedy Central. Unfortunately for Comedy Central, Johnson’s new release, That’s How We Do It, simply doesn’t bring anything new to the plate.

I’m all for ethnic satire and tales of crazy nail salons, but you have to be unique. Having been a fan of standup since a young age, I’ve become well versed on the idiosyncrasies of latin and asian women. I get it. Latin women have an attitude, asians drive poorly and mispronounce certain letters in our alphabet. Any comedian that has ever touch on these topics have highlighted these facts. That’s not an opinion, it’s fact. However, this seems to have missed Ms. Johnson as the majority of her 21 tracks seem to hit solely on these topics in slight variations OVER AND OVER. I know this doesn’t exactly paint much of a portrait of how Johnson’s live show flows, but that’s simply because there isn’t much to it. Take the already mentioned cliche territory of racial stereotypes, add voices we’ve already heard on MadTV, and what seems like “enhance” laugh tracks and you have an hour of your life you’ll be wanting back before it ends.

I know that comedy is subjective, but not everyone can ride a one trick pony like Larry the Cable Guy [and really, who wants to be him?]. This is twice as true when that one trick pony has been ridden by every comedian in recent history that’s chosen to talk about racial stereotypes. While Anjelah Johnson has moments of comedic brilliance when she dives into her tales of being a cheerleader, these moments come too few and far between to make any real difference. That’s How We Do It is at least appropriately name as how Johnson chooses to “do” her comedy is a near replica of every other forgettable comedian in the past decade.

Sorry to say Ms. Johnson, but network tv is probably where you belong.

Score: 3/10
Review written by: James Shotwell

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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