STAND-UP TUESDAYS: Beards Of Comedy

December 6th, 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 Beards Of Comedys and their latest release, Cardio Mix. If you or your comedy troupe would like to be featured on Stand-Up Tuesdays, please email utgjames@gmail.com.

Oh, how I’ve longed for a comedy album to appeal to the massively A.D.D. side of me – and alas, my prayers were not unheard with the new CD from the Beards of Comedy, Cardio Mix.

Comprised of four hilarious (and bearded) comedians from Atlanta, the Beards of Comedy Tour is quickly becoming one of the hottest shows in the U.S. The Beards consist of Andy Sandford (voted “Best Atlanta Comedian” by Creative Loafing, CMT’s “Next Big Comic” Top 12 Finalist), Joe Zimmerman (nominated by Rooftop Comedy for the Golden Shingle Award – given to the most outstanding rising star in comedy), T.J. Young (winner of multiple festival awards, Comedy Death Ray), and Dave Stone (Rooftopcomedy.com’s 2010 “Silver Nail Award” winner, voice actor for “Squidbillies”. Cardio Mix is the second album from the Beards, and is just over an hour of the guys performing stand-up, showcase style, with each comic introducing the next – and a special bonus track (since Young used to play drums in a band) called Sad Song that is absolutely tear-jerking for all the wrong reasons.

These guys tend to demonstrate the reasons behind my utter love for male facial hair – but their act has absolutely nothing to do with their beards. It’s merely a hook parody of sorts that works in so many ways (any fan of MTV’s The State will immediately recall the Bearded Men of Space Station 11), the funniest way, at least to me, being T.J. Young referring to Stone as the ‘next beard’.

In July of 2009, The Beards recorded their debut album, “Comedy for People” for Rooftop Comedy Records. They are often featured on the nationally syndicated radio show “The Regular Guys” and can be heard in regular rotation on Sirius XM Radio. Individually, the Beards have worked with Aziz Ansari, Maria Bamford, Todd Barry, Doug Benson, Greg Giraldo, Todd Glass, Andy Kindler, Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Marc Maron, Greg Proops, and many more.

Sanford starts out the show strongly, especially after asking the audience if there were any baseball fans there.

“Oh man…I cannot tell you guys how much,” Sandford drawls casually, “I hate baseball. Never liked it, my friends love it. They always try to sell me on baseball, which is weird. They’re like, ‘Dude, I don’t like that you don’t like what I like.’”

After a few hilarious bits about living next to an abortion clinic and failing a drug test, Sandford brings up Joe Zimmerman who kills it with his data-driven assumptions about the audience.

“Clap if you’re more of a cat person,” he states, then asking if there any dog people. “This next one’s easy to, it’s fun and easy – what do you like more, white people or black people?”

Naturally, after asking who would win in a fight, Jesus or Chuck Norris, Zimmerman concludes, “Kind of a dog-loving, racist Jewish crowd? That’s about right.”

Despite asking my least favorite question, ‘who’s drinking tonight?’ T.J. Young adds some fast-paced, educational humor to the mix.

“Guess who doesn’t have money, guys?” he asks the crowd. “Homeless people. Told you we were gonna learn something.”

Rounded out by Dave Stone and his true life tales of entertaining octogenarians on a gospel radio station, Cardio Mix is an absolute must-have, especially for the holidays. Released through Comedy Central Records, pick up a copy of Cardio Mix today on iTunes and give your friends and family the gift of beard power.