STAND-UP TUESDAYS: Dave Attell

April 8th, 2014

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

Stand-Up Month continues this week in a big way, as this weekend marks the premiere of comedian Dave Attell’s brand new special, Road Work, along with the series premiere of Comedy Underground with Dave Attell on Comedy Central – and both are delicious enough to set comedy fans’ tongues wagging. Shot in concert-film style, Road Work features performances from Attell in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Minneapolis, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Chicopee, Massachusetts. That’s right – this isn’t your typical comedy special. But then again, Dave Attell isn’t your typical comic; a true club comic at heart, Attell wasn’t about to film his special in a giant theater.

“A lot of these specials you see are in a theater, and I’m not a theater comic. I’ve been doing comedy for over twenty five years, and I’d say 99% of those times have been in clubs all over the country. I feel like I’m a club comic; my audience comes to see that, and I just wanted to do one there,” Attell recently told me in an interview. I kind of got sick of the look of the theater shows, so I really wanted to do it in a club – that’s where I work. That’s where I think the jokes work best, and that’s what it is.”

Enlisting the help of audience members-turned cameramen, Road Work is uniquely shot guerrilla-style, blending scenes from different cameras and angles (and venues) to produce what is an amazingly accurate portrayal of being at a comedy club. Couple that with Attell’s sharply clever, not so safe for work material, and you’ve got a recipe for comedy perfection. Attell is in top form, despite assuring his audiences that they’re in for “a filthy, dirty mess of a show.”

I’ve been a fan of Dave Attell for years (hell, even my own comedy rookie father remembers watching Insomniac with me) and Road Work is a perfect example of why the comedian is so loved by his fan base. Nothing is off limits, something that is hilariously obvious as Attell ponders what is worse when it comes to anal bead removal: finding more than you started with, or missing some of them.

Hey, you were warned.

Attell is an exceptionally likable guy – and a good person, too, as he just announced that he recently donated $25,000 that he received for performing a benefit for Operation Purple right to the organization. Just in case you needed another reason to be a Dave Attell fan.

Mark your calendars and set your DVRs for the premiere of Dave Attell’s Road Work, airing on Comedy Central on Saturday, April 12 at 12:00 midnight – uncensored, mind you – and enjoy one of the most entertaining hours of comedy to be released in a long time. Be sure to stick around after the special for the premiere of Comedy Underground with Dave Attell, which is just about the closest you can get to a true comedy club experience without leaving your couch.