STAND-UP TUESDAYS: David Huntsberger

January 17th, 2012

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 David Huntsberger! If you or your comedy troupe would like to be featured on Stand-Up Tuesdays, please email utgjames@gmail.com.

I was going to provide you all with my take on John Mulaney’s upcoming Comedy Central Presents special, New In Town, this week, but since it doesn’t air until the end of the month (and I’m holding out for an interview) I’ve decided to switch gears and instead bring you David Huntsberger’s Humanitis.

That’s not to say that Huntsberger is by any means a consolation prize for the week – in fact, I’m a little aggravated with myself for not having listened to the Reno-born comedian prior to this month. His credits include performing on season nine of “Premium Blend” and reaching the semi-finals on season four of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.” He also regularly opens for Nick Swardson and Doug Benson and has worked with Paul F. Tompkins, Maria Bamford, Eddie Gossling, Tig Notaro and Patton Oswalt.

So why hadn’t I seen this guy before? Comedic negligence on my part, certainly.

Humanitis is a 45-minute journey into the sometimes cringe-worthy, always hilarious mind of Huntsberger, in which he shares his views on vanity, homophobia, and the sportsmanship of fertilizing an egg.

“You have thousands of these little sperm all swimming towards one egg,” Huntsberger muses, “and in the end only one of them gets in there? No knife fights?”

Huntsberger seems to be a jack of all trades as his website not only features clips of his stand-up, but also various sketches, drawings and short stories he’s crafted as well. The creative roadmap that is his mind is soon clearly understood as all of his various thoughts and ideas filter through his comedy. His observations on the world around him are meticulously thought out and presented in the funniest way possible.

“People are like, ‘Homosexuality? Nah, I don’t support that lifestyle,’” Huntsberger drawls, wondering why there’s so much hatred towards gay people. “No one does. They’ve never knocked on my door like, ‘Little help?’”

What I like most about Huntsberger is that his comedy is not just humor for humor’s sake – regardless of his subject matter, you can be sure that underneath it all, he’s making a point. I do wish he’d include a little more storytelling-based material in his set, but I’m looking forward to seeing more of him in the future.

You can pick up a copy of David Huntsberger’s Humanitis today at Amazon.com – and you should, since it’s an enjoyable and relatively short CD –and keep an eye out as I’m sure we’ve not seen the last of him.