Mmmm....Sky Cake

I do not have enough time in my life to keep up with stand-up comedy. I'm vaguely aware of who's popular at any given time, but I'm not familiar with any particular jokes or sets. But I make an exception for Patton Oswalt, who's 2007 album Werewolves and Lollipops was pretty damn funny.

He's back with new material on the recently released My Weakness is Strong. Some of the bits fall into what I would consider stand-up cliches, including impending fatherhood and airlines. Even as someone admittedly unfamiliar with stand-up, this seemed like well-traveled territory. Grant you, I still laughed at it, probably because I've had my own impending fatherhood fears, and airlines will always suck.

There are also riffs on things that will undoubtedly date this album, including Oswalt's work on Ratatouille and Barack Obama. Again, pretty funny, but will it still be funny 5 years from now? Not so much.

But plenty of other bits are timeless and funny, including Oswalt's takes on depression, walking in on an orgy while house hunting, and his history of religion. Oswalt is at his best when he's at his most cynical, and he doesn't get much more cynical than this atheist's attempt to compress religous history into one scathing allegory, called Sky Cake.

Overall, not quite as funny as Werewolves and Lollipops, but still one of the funniest dudes out there right now. I suppose I don't really have a basis for comparison, I just know I laughed my way through this album.