Midlife Vices

Recording information: Union Square Theater, New York, NY (06/2009).
Photographer: Pieter M. VanHatten.
Only a slight step down from his excellent debut album GOOD DAY TO CROSS A RIVER, MIDLIFE VICES is comedian Greg Giraldo in fine form, ranting and raving about despair and depravity in front of a New York City audience where the crowds are most accepting of his scummy sense of humor. New York provides the inspiration for the first part of the set, being a city where insults like "You Got A.I.D.S, Yo!" are shouted across streets and where arguments about the best Disney song result in fist fights and name-calling. This tough background is perfect for the gruff Giraldo who came up on the Comedy Central Roast circuit, and as his very funny bits about growing old, politics, and sports shoot off rapid-fire, one gritty joke after another, its easy to ignore how standard the topics and the structure of the set are. Save some routines about peanut allergies and a shift towards greener energy production, this familiar feeling set could have come any era from the '80s onward. But Giraldo fans don't care much about innovation; they prefer gutsy stuff, sometimes gross and sometimes down-right mean, but always funny with that cocksure, New York state of mind.