STAND-UP TUESDAYS: Rory Scovel

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

 

It’s tough to dive into a comedy CD by a comedian whom jokes.com compares to Dane Cook, I’ll admit – almost as difficult as partaking in a comedy CD by an improv comic – but thankfully, Rory Scovel’s debut CD, Dilation, is a pleasantly surprisingly adventure in humor.

Scovel, who lives in Los Angeles but grew up in the south, proves the old adage wrong that you can’t mix improv and stand-up.  Despite the first few moments of the CD promising yet another lack-luster attempt at stand-up by a comic who’s used to performing improve, it quickly becomes apparent that Scovel is highly adept at maximizing on the strengths of his improv skills to make them work for him in Dilation.

For instance, while talking about his fear of flying early on in the show, Scovel is quick to note how much more assured he becomes with a southern pilot – breaking into an absolutely flawless dude-drawl.

“What, you’re tellin’ me we lost a mother***in’ wing?” Scovel says in his best southern protraction.  “Are you serious right now? Hell yeah I’ll still land this mother***ker – no, no, leave the wheels up!”

Scovel masterfully balances the right amount of improve-injection into his set, expertly choosing exactly the right moments to break into a character voice.  Of course, if you’ve not actually seen Scovel’s act, it’s somewhat easy to get lost in the different voices and have difficulty really pinpointing his true comedic personality. That is until he talks about weed.

“You ever get so high you get six songs deep into a Matchbox 20 cd?” Scovel rants. “Then you start thinking to yourself, what the fuck am I doing with my life? I have this on vinyl! I’m ruining Friday!”

Having featured for major comedic talents such as Louis C.K. and Daniel Tosh, Scovel proves with Dilation that he’s more than able to hold his own, while not being branded simply an improv comic.  He’s graced comedy festivals nationwide, and was featured on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in November 2010.

There’s nothing more I love than a good comedic surprise, and that’s just what I got in Rory Scovel – Dane Cook comparison or not.  Scovel is no Dane Cook, at least in my opinion – not just because Dilation will remain in my iTunes rotation rather than be sent to the digital hell that is my recycling bin, but because you just can’t argue with talent.  A slightly more appropriate comparison to me would be to compare Scovel to Patton Oswalt, due to the wide array of characters, vocal effects, and creativity he possesses. While Scovel may not be the every-man type of comic that one can easily relate to, his humor does have a certain likability to it that easily wins audiences over.  Pick up a copy of Dilation today on iTunes, and keep an eye out for this up and coming comedian as you’ve certainly not heard the last of him.

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