STAND-UP TUESDAYS: Dan Levy

August 16th, 2011

Angie Frissore

Stand-Up Tuesdays is a weekly comedy spotlight written by the wonderfully talented Angie Frissore. Covering both known and unknown comics, Stand-up Tuesdays is your new source for all things funny.

This week, Angie puts a spotlight on Dan Levy and his latest release, Congrats On Your Success. If you or your comedy troupe would like to be featured on Stand-Up Tuesdays, please email utgjames@gmail.com.

Recently awarded the 2011 Young Hollywood Award for Best Comedian, Dan Levy is certainly no stranger to success. The Connecticuit native and Emerson College alumnus, who is currently touring with Aziz Ansari, released his new Comedy Central CD today, entitled Congrats On Your Success.

Levy started his foray into comedy around the age of 12 when he joined an improv workshop, and hasn’t looked back since. He’s won the title of Funniest College Comedian at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, CO, and is regularly seen on Chelsea Lately. Fans of the Boston comedy scene might recall Levy’s very first performance at an open mic night.

“The first time I did stand-up was at Dick Doherty’s Comedy Vault,” Levy tells SanDiego.com, “and I wore like a matching blue Adidas outfit, and I do not know why I wore that outfit. I thought it was cool; I was wrong.”

Fortunately, Levy was of the right mentality in the aftermath of bombing that night – to just keep going, as it can only get better. And his new CD certainly proves that to have been the right choice.

Levy’s brand of comedy is hard to pin down – he’s self-depricating at times, arrogant at others – but this ambiguity seems to work in his favor. He’s got a delicate balance of relatability, awkwardness and superiority that somehow meshes well. By the time he’s finished explaining the ways by which his wife can be seen as bitchy (in a cleverly-named track, My Wife is not a Bitch), he’s already moved on to hilarious commentary about strip clubs – leaving you very little time to judge him for any of it.

Possibly the best fly-on-the-wall moment is when Levy relays the story of foolishly leaving four pot-cookies out where his roommate could steal and eat them, not knowing he’d eaten a 32-hour high. Luckily for us, his roommate had the wherewithall to document the experience in a journal entry, which Levy kindly shares with his audience.

Levy also touches upon free porn, failed celebrity interactions (from which the CD’s title was born), and performing for the Army and Marines at the same time.

In noting the rivalry between the two military branches, Levy draws his own professional comparison.

“You’re fighting for the same cause, you’re practically on the same team,” he laments. “I’m a comedian – I don’t hate clowns…but I’ll fuck up a magician.”

Congrats On Your Success is definitely worth the buy. While some of Levy’s transitions are a bit on the speedy side (one could easily get lost should they make the mistake of multitasking while listening), the CD is a solid piece of hilarity. Just don’t confuse him with that other Dan Levy.

Written by: Angie Frissore