Greg Proops

Greg’s notorious style of overly-literate, obnoxiously verbose observational and opinion-heavy social commentary is still topical cream for the synapses. Greg seems to be out to prove himself as the Colin Meloy of comedy. His high-brow language and morally superior attitude make him come across as a pompous know-it all, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love every minute of it. He even goes so far during a joke on his album Houston, We have a Problem as to berate the audience at great length for “awwwing” at a joke they found to be in poor taste (a hilarious joke about how one of the reasons why Paul McCartney has been on the decline since the Beatles is due to the fact that he dated that one-legged woman). Greg's lecture to his audience transcripts as follows:

Um, I have no time for your judgment. My jokes are marvelously constructed with hilarious, surprise inexplicable endings. It would behoove you to get on board my satirical comedy train right now, and lay down the petty Houston bullshit Texas precepts that you have brought in with you. You're in Mr. Proops' house right now and it's time you step up and deal with some of the real shit. I'm not going to spoon feed you or patronize you at any point. I'm going to lay down blistering comedy in a scorching manner. It's up to you to avoid the napalm and run after me to safety. Besides which, you don't know her and she's not here. So who's zoomin' who? Who IS here? Oh, that would be me. Why? Because I love you. I came all the way out from California to entertain you. Where do you see the one-legged girl? Nowhere, that's where. So I will caution you, never take her side against me in a joke...

For a lesser comic, a move like this might work against him, but for Proops, overly-exaggerated soap-box comedy works so well, that part of me hopes his next album is titled, “Here’s why I’m better than you…. And Smarter!”

Use of irony and sarcasm are a staple for Proops, who likes to absurd-ize viewpoints that oppose his own. On his prior album, Joke Book, he delivers a soliloquy about the beauty of the Hawaiian landscape to juxtapose and ridicule Hawaii’s meth problem.

I wanna feel what the natives feel... I wanna be lying on the beach on methamphetamines... That's the moment that I wanna be there. Lying on the beech with pink coral sand, your toes wiggling... Mai Tai clutched gingerly in your left hand... gazing off into the middle distance at a green and verdant volcanic peak shrouded in mist like a tale told by an elder from a tribe now long forgotten. And the sky turns from robin's-egg blue to shale to umber, and then deep ebony as every star starts to burst through like a celebration aimed directly at the heart of your soul... and the sun begins to dive into the pacific ocean and becomes an enormous iridescent orange disk, and then an unlikely purple tube the moment before it leaves the realm of man....
...is the moment I wanna be jinked out of my fuckin' mind on methamphetamines...

Thematically, Greg’s discussions aren’t exactly unpaved ground. His political humor and equal/women’s-rights-related material is derivative of Bill Hicks and George Carlin’s 90s albums. In fact, his discussion of Bill Clinton V.S. Dick Cheney sounds similar to Carlin’s ‘State Prison Farms’ in terms of delivery, with about 10, 15 minutes of lecture, with bits of hilarity peppered in, ending with a massive punch-line that will have you high-fiving your liberal NHS buddies all semester long.

This brings to light an interesting issue which was discussed publicly by Bill Clinton when he was on The Daily Show. Clinton said, “When people THINK, Democrats win”…

Greg Proops’ comedy is decidedly leftist, and it’s interesting to see that one of the more liberal-minded of today’s comics speaks with SAT-words that admittedly had me visiting dictionary.com on one or more occasions. Do comedians and their fans represent the American divide of right vs. left? Some comics have no noticeable politics. Jim Gaffigan comes to mind. Some comics are beloved by hordes of fans that are noticeably right-winged. Is there a noticeable educational or intellectual quotient divide between guys like Proops or David Cross whose material and fans reflect a leftist point of view, and Larry the Cable guy, who--even though his comedy isn’t political--is beloved by the Bible belt? Is the right wing simply in love with stupid? Is the reason that there are no visible comedians doing right-wing comedy due to the fact that when intelligent thought is applied, there is simply no absurdity to be pointed out in the Democratic mindset?

All things to think about when you check out both of these Greg Proops albums or catch him live if you have a chance (or enough money). A personal side note: Greg Proops was the very first comedy show I ever saw, back in 1999, and in addition to being one of the funniest I‘ve ever seen to date, it still reigns as the most expensive. It was 40 dollars plus drinks at the Washington D.C. Improv. Greg, if you’re reading this, help a brotha out, and do some shows at less expensive clubs. This is one of the reasons our Philly area comedy clubs are struggling, because they’re not making 48 bucks a head, so they have less money to book popular acts, ergo less draw for their club. Less draw means less money per head etc. and the cycle repeats until more clubs close every year. If popular comedians can lend a hand by doing some pro-bono-esque work at smaller clubs for some less money, it would benefit the comedy industry at large. Especially you liberals, who supposedly believe in some individual sacrifice for the greater good of the community, lets put some money where your mouth is, please!

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