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 Kyle Kinane and his upcoming Comedy Central special. If you or your comedy troupe would like to be featured on Stand-Up Tuesdays, please email utgjames@gmail.com.

This week in Stand Up Tuesdays is one that I’ve been looking forward to for quite a while, as I’ve waited anxiously for a new special from one of my favorite comedians, Kyle Kinane – and alas, the wait is over. Kinane’s first original one-hour stand-up special, “Kyle Kinane: Whiskey Icarus,” premieres on Comedy Central on Saturday November 24 at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT.  Filmed at The Fillmore in San Francisco, the special features food for thought from the journeyman storyteller himself as Kinane contemplates everything from the existence of God and the true meaning of being delivered an unsliced pizza.

“That’s somebody seeing my name come up on one too many tickets and being like, ‘Listen, man, we know that you’re probably going to eat this by yourself; more than likely all in one sitting, too.  You know what to do, man.’”

Kinane is also the host of Comedy Central’s digital series “30 Seconds Over Washington,” which analyzes the onslaught of real campaign videos and political ads from the past and the present, as well as user-generated content from the American people, available on indecision.cc.com.  He has performed stand-up on “Conan,” “The Very Funny Show,” “Last Call with Carson Daly,” and “The US Comedy Arts Festival,” as well as Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham” and “Comedy Central Presents.”  The much-loved comedian recently took the time to chat with me about his new special and massive following after the 2010 release of his debut CD, Death of the Party.

“The CD did a really good job of getting me on the radar,” Kinane recalls, “which was fun – doing your first album when you don’t know what you’re doing. It actually kind of takes the pressure off. Want to do an album? Sure…why not. And it turned out real great. It’s the fear of the sophomore slump thing, I’m having. The nice thing about releasing your first album is that no one knows who you are – I mean, there’s pressure to do good, but if it doesn’t do well, nobody knew who you were and it gets to go away. But now, since the album did better than I expected it to do, it was like, ‘Oh that’s great – people know who I am!’ But now the pressure’s on, it’s like, what else you got?”

Kinane’s massive appeal is all down to his down-to-earth attitude and sheer likeability. The comedian doesn’t put on airs or try to force any sort of political agenda on his audience; he’s simply sharing hilarious, and often awkward, stories from his own personal experiences. A particular story centered around pancakes is one of the special’s highlights, though be warned – it will, undoubtedly, leave you craving some fluffy silver dollars afterwards.

“You know, I should have a Red Lobster sponsorship by now. I think I can probably get IHOP on board with this special. I’m not greedy, but I feel like I’ve been doing a lot of free promotion for people,” Kinane jokes. “Breakfast in general. I should be sponsored by breakfast.”

When it comes to Kinane’s experience hosting “30 Seconds Over Washington” in lead up to this year’s presidential election, the comedian admits that politics is a very scary game.

“It was fun, and also terrifying. During this particular election it was like, oh god, this is scary. But that’s the beauty and the curse of democracy – that everybody gets a chance.”

Leading up to the on-air premiere of “Kyle Kinane: Whiskey Icarus”, The Comedy Central Stand-Up Web site will feature preview clips from the special. The “Kyle Kinane: Whiskey Icarus” CD/DVD combo will be available in early 2013. “Kyle Kinane: Whiskey Icarus” is executive produced by Kinane, Rick Austin, Mike Rothman, and Dave Rath.  Jonas Larsen and Toni Magon are the Executives in Charge of Production for Comedy Central.

You should watch “Kyle Kinane: Whiskey Icarus,” because, well, you deserve it.

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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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