STAND-UP TUESDAYS: Mike Baldwin

September 2nd, 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 Mike Baldwin’s comedy career. 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, we take a look at the recently-released album Front 2 Back from comedian Mike Baldwin. Recorded at the Des Moines, Iowa Funny Bone earlier this year, Front 2 Back is the comedian’s second release and offers fans the laid-back stoner-style comedy they’ve come to expect from Baldwin – although even a stoner might have some trouble keeping focused at the start.

For the first few jokes, Baldwin seems almost unprepared as he awkwardly transitions from one subject to another so quickly that it comes across as a random, unplanned set, rather than a CD recording. His material is funny, but perhaps could benefit from some revision as he tends to over-explain some of his jokes rather than allowing his audience to make the connection themselves.

Within the very first track, Baldwin breaks out an old joke theme – not just any old joke theme, but the theme that gave his debut album its name – which was a bit surprising. While it can certainly be said that if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it, comedy (especially recorded) is like a band’s studio albums: an artist isn’t going to keep including the same song on every recording they put out (that’s what greatest hits albums are for). To use such a familiar joke so early on in his set adds to the false impression that Baldwin might be struggling on stage – which is only compounded when Baldwin whips out a second joke he’s previously recorded.

You see, every week, I review another comedy album, special, or documentary, leaving me far more deeply mired in the comedy trenches than your average consumer. Naturally, this has its advantages, but there’s also somewhat of a deeper problem for me in that I’m very familiar with the works of many comedians – and I can easily spot when one is not performing to his or her potential on stage. The first half of Front 2 Back indicated to me that something wasn’t right that night, but suddenly I crossed the threshold into an instantly better experience, which Baldwin explains is due to editing four nights of performances into a final product.

One can’t help but wonder how the first half of the significantly better performance went down to not be used in the final cut.

So it’s not all bad news; you can, quite literally, hear the difference in Baldwin’s stage presence and energy as track five kicks in, where he’s a lively, well-planned comedy machine. He riffs through memories of fast-food employer hazing and drunk driving stories rather endearingly, and maintains a much more consistent comedy style than earlier in the CD, which had him offering up a random and weak one-liner here and there amidst a discombobulated series of half-jokes. He’s found his footing and remains securely on-target for the remainder of the album.

“Worst name for a band?” Baldwin offers. “’Little Boys’ Penises’. No one wants to go see them.”

Mike Baldwin‘s Front 2 Back is a strange comedic experience, in that the comedian is unwittingly offering up two vastly difference experiences within one performance. The editing process is so important, especially when an act uses material from multiple nights – and it’s important to maintain a consistency so that the final product doesn’t come across as being made up of several different pieces. The editing process, for Baldwin, has created a very real possibility that a listener won’t have the mental fortitude to continue listening, ultimately never getting to that more polished and attractive piece – which would be a shame, as that half of Front 2 Back is extremely fun to listen to.

But, again, don’t take my word for it – you’re big boys and girls now, so check it out for yourself today. I think in Mike Baldwin’s case, your best bet is to check him out live when he comes to your town.