STAND-UP TUESDAYS: Kurt Metzger

July 15th, 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 Kurt Metzger’s comedy career. If you or your comedy troupe would like to be featured on Stand-Up Tuesdays, please email utgjames@gmail.com.

Enter the world of slippery driving and sky mosques with me as we take a look at comedian Kurt Metzger‘s first special, White Precious, in this week’s Stand-Up Tuesdays. Released last week on CC: Stand-Up Direct and premiering last weekend on Comedy Central, White Precious offers up a solid hour of remarkably self-aware and gritty humor from the Inside Amy Schumer writer.

Recorded at the Grammercy Theatre in New York, White Precious features Metzger musing about a bevvy of subjects – everything from Monopoly-induced domestic violence to an almost-uncomfortably long rant about anal sex. While there are moments that may seem to be less focused than others, Metzger consistently brings his jokes back around in his meticulously detailed rants.

Metzger opens up a great deal in White Precious, offering glimpses into his upbringing that pain an image of a somewhat repressed child. Metzger is a former Jehovah’s Witness minister, making it striking to see how his views evolved as he matured. He admits early on that he doesn’t think he’s better than anyone, and he’s certainly not out to be the voice of a generation.

“No. Not even a little bit,” Metzger tells UTG.

White Precious certainly isn’t for the easily offended, as Metzger tears apart the latest Native American spokesman for the anti-smoking campaign, ultimately delivering a joke that had me in hysterics and ashamed of myself all at once. He also presents a delightful little bit around the Boston Marathon bombers and terrorists – though admitting afterwards that the joke was ‘fifty-fifty’.

But Metzger isn’t necessarily out to cause controversy – to him, it’s just funny.

“I’m not even into those arguments man,” Metzger muses. “It’s just going to be, listen to it or don’t, I don’t give a shit.”

That’s what is refreshing about Metzger’s comedy – he truly does not give a shit. He’s going to say the things that society has shied away from out of political correctness, and you’re going to laugh your ass off – because it’s funny, and that’s what comedy is for: laughing at the things you’re not really supposed to laugh at. Is there anything more cathartic than that?

I knew going into White Precious that there would be moments that were not-so-appropriate, as I am a fan of Metzger’s. It ‘s what Metzger does with these subjects, however, that no so much redeems him, but validates his material: he brings up these subjects, but at the end of the joke, the subjects themselves are not being made fun of; they merely provide context.

Thankfully, we live in an age where you can easily click these words – right here – and instantly own Kurt Metzger’s White Precious via CC: Stand-Up Direct instead of having to run out to a record store to make such a purchase. Celebrate your technologial freedom and download White Precious today!

Grade: B+