Neil in the New York Times!

[Boni Jergen]

It's true, the New York Times wrote a 2 page article about him and also "Larry the Cable Guy" who can go to Hell.

Any way, here it is:

www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/arts/28sann.html

Most of the Neil hamburger part is on the 2nd page.

[thisisacomputer]

[shadow=black,left,300] I just found out my uncle got his finger wacked off by a sowing machine I hope they can re sow it back on [/shadow]

[Skeetcher]

Boni said:

It's true, the New York Times wrote a 2 page article about him and also "Larry the Cable Guy" who can go to Hell.

Any way, here it is:

www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/arts/28sann.html

Most of the Neil hamburger part is on the 2nd page.

You have to be a member of the newspaper to read that article.

[Cami]

It's free to register.

(NO I don't work for the New York Times).

[Skeetcher]

Guest-Cami said:

It's free to register.

(NO I don't work for the New York Times).

I am lazy and bad tempered.

[StabbyAppleton]

here you go lazy people (ps i was LOLing OUT LOUD! when i was reading it):

From page 2 of the article ( i skipped the cr*p about larry the cable guy)
"At a Neil Hamburger show, by contrast, the audience might never start laughing. In 1996, he released his brilliant debut album, "America's Funnyman" (Drag City), announcing himself with a string of perfectly mangled punch lines. After a long, pointless windup about how many different kinds of stores they have in outlet malls, he finishes, in that infuriatingly plummy voice of his: "All they need now is a heart doctor, for when you get cr - your credit card bill - when you get your credit card bill in the - in the mail." Silence. "Heart attack, you see." More silence. "You'll have a heart attack." A lonely piece of ice clinks in a glass.


Ever since, Hamburger has been building a small but ferocious cult of fans. He has released a string of albums on the indie-rock label Drag City and once managed to get himself booked on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," where he told perhaps the most tasteless Michael Jackson joke ever heard on network television. (Quite a feat.)

And while it's easy to mistake Hamburger for a purposely bad comedian, his act isn't nearly so simple as that. For starters, it's not easy to say what makes a comedian bad, besides not being funny, and Hamburger at his best is hilarious. In a great early routine, "The Most Annoying Thing," he spends 77 interminable seconds trying to tell a joke about the subscription cards that fall out of magazines. Hecklers keep interrupting, but after each "Shut up!" he regroups and gamely starts in again, amplifying his outrage ("I mean, why do they think we have a paper shortage?") while hoping in vain to inspire some laughter.

Though most comedians aim to unite voice and persona and timing and stories and punch lines into a seamless whole, Hamburger excels at picking comedy tradition apart: with him, you notice every sigh, every cough, every overeager attempt to turn a phrase into a catchphrase. And once you've heard him, you may start hearing other comedians differently. Compared with Hamburger's "But thaaat's my life," a favorite non-catchphrase, Larry the Cable Guy's famous refrain, "Git-r-done!," sounds even more ridiculous. And whereas Larry the Cable Guy once released an album titled "Lord, I Apologize," Hamburger once released an absurd album, which included a few religion jokes, titled "Laugh Out Lord."

All of which brings us, however unwillingly, to Hamburger's new album, "Great Moments at Di Presa's Pizza House," which isn't really a Neil Hamburger album at all. He tells a few of his obscene and possibly libelous celebrity jokes, then makes way for a narrated history lesson about a pizza restaurant where he supposedly used to perform.

Hamburger fans who exchange money for this CD probably deserve what they get. But while record stores won't be offering refunds, there is something that disgruntled customers can do. Hamburger is currently on tour (find dates at americasfunnyman.com), and he is scheduled to play Pianos, on the Lower East Side, on May 13. Fans and nonfans are advised to show up and speak their minds; save your comments for the moment when Hamburger is trying to deliver yet another punch line."