STAND UP TUESDAYS: Dave Foley

October 1st, 2013

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 Dave Foley’s comedy career. If you or your comedy troupe would like to be featured on Stand-Up Tuesdays, please email utgjames@gmail.com.

New Wave Dynamics recently released a brand-new special from comedian Dave Foley, and you’ll be happy to know the Kids In The Hall alum is doing Relatively Well. In a world that is hell-bent on crushing his spirit, Foley is making the best of it in absolutely hilarious fashion – taking on politics, semantics, not hooking up with Uma Thurman, and of course, his ex-wife.

“I went for a very long period of time in my life where I didn’t get fucked. I went eleven years without being fucked,” Foley quips. “It was during my first marriage. To be fair, it wasn’t entirely her fault, because she had been diagnosed as being a cunt.”

Having been a fan of Dave Foley since my first glimpse of Kids in the Hall, I was certainly not let down in the slightest upon listening to the comedian’s first comedy special. Foley seamlessly moves from topic to topic, questioning the logic behind ‘choosing’ to be gay and bemoaning his lack of interest in sex. And while some of Foley’s material does start to lose steam as he gets into an example of doing religious comedy in the Middle Ages, it’s a minor hiccup in an overall entertaining set.

Foley launches a scathing (and brilliant) rant against Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman that perfectly articulates the opinion of many Americans: “I am starting to hate Sarah Palin a little bit less as I learn to hate Michelle Bachman a whole lot more. I know that’s bad; I should have enough hate in my heart for both of them…in the intellectual desert that is the Tea Party, they are poisoned wells.”

Coming to prominence in the 90s as a break-out member of the iconic sketch show Kids In The Hall, Foley also starred in the critically-acclaimed NBC sitcom Newsradio, and voiced the lead in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life. Since then he’s been a distinctive presence on TV, films, and animation, such as Dan Vs., It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, The Wrong Guy, Monster’s University, and How To Be A Gentleman.

Relatively Well is available on DVD and CD from New Wave Dynamics and should definitely be part of your comedy collection.

Grade: B+