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 Wyatt Cenac and his latest release, Comedy Person. If you or your comedy troupe would like to be featured on Stand-Up Tuesdays, please email utgjames@gmail.com.

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I’m conflicted as I sit down to write this week’s column, I’ll admit. I was raised with the notion that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Unfortunately, silence was not an option for me as I made several attempts to digest T.J. Miller’s Extended Play EP. Granted, I’m not quite as familiar with Miller’s work as I am with most of the comics I review, but the few snippets I’ve caught served to foreshadow just what a train wreck this experience would be.

Or perhaps I simply shouldn’t attempt to listen to T.J. Miller immediately after listening to Patton Oswalt or Doug Benson. Maybe that’s it.

The Extended Play EP, despite what Miller might claim, is not a stand-up comedy CD, no – it’s over an hour of Miller and his noteworthy friends singing fake rap songs that make The Lonely Island look like Chopin. With special appearances by Doug Benson, Bo Burnham, and his brother, it’s almost as if Miller was hoping you simply wouldn’t notice the suckage buried within the far-too-numerous and far-too-short tracks.

When I have seen Miller perform (actual stand-up), I was almost equally unimpressed. Miller strikes me as that incredibly popular high school football player whose backside the other kids kissed routinely – and someone once told him he was funny. And that he should do stand-up.

I’d like to find those brown-nosing friends and suggest to them that they instead remind Miller that what he’s doing has been done – time and time again – and that the fake rap thing is best left to the people who do it best (again, I’m looking at you, The Lonely Island). There is virtually no stand-up at all on the Extended Play EP – save for a few skits tossed in here and there, it’s nothing but overly-articulated, not-funny-in-the-slightest fake rap bravado (if there exists such a thing).

I still can’t quite understand why any comedian in 2011 would attempt to release a fake rap CD in hopes that it would stand out – or let alone further his career. Given the CD is Miller’s first release, one can only reflect on how very differently things should have gone in creating it.

Despite the best efforts of his much-more-famous friends, The Extended Play EP simply falls flat. With so many heavyweights on the CD (again, I cite Doug Benson), I’m highly disappointed. I mean, after all – friends don’t let friends be not funny.

So if you’re into torture methods or have a root canal coming up, pick up Miller’s new disc and give it a listen. If you’ve got healthy sense of humor, however, there’s plenty of better material out there to be enjoying.

Written by: Angie Frissore (follow her on Twitter)

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Angie Frissore

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