Originally Published August 23, 2011
You know him from THE DAILY SHOW with JON STEWART, and now comedian WYATT CENAC has his first-ever stand-up special in release. Out this week on DVD, CD, and digital download via Comedy Central Records, COMEDY PERSON (reviewed from CD) is an hour of the freshest comedy around – and not just because it’s only been available for 24 hours.
Opening with an intro by the sadly unfunny JOHN HODGMAN (the ‘PC’ guy), Cenac takes over with a delivery that begins fairly deadpan and becomes looser as the performance continues. Over the course of the next hour, you’ll learn that Cenac is a geek at heart that loves television, comic books, and surfing the web for cat videos. You’ll also find that Wyatt is the little-known creator of SPIDER-MAN, a tale of a spider that was bitten by a radioactive man.
He tackles racism with smarts, bringing humor to a topic burned long ago by those that repeatedly “play the race card” for cheap laughs. Sure, Cenac talks about “growing up black,” but he also manages to show some affection for the Native Americans, the Jews, Animals, and the “Coconuts” and “Bananas.”
Bottom Line: WYATT CENAC is a relatively new voice to many, but with some replay value on this special, there’s a good chance we’ll be hearing a lot more from him outside of THE DAILY SHOW in the years to come.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
