Tourgasm alumni Robert Kelly is a funny man with some interesting takes on everyday habits, the very funniest of which deals with tube socks and the constant need to wear them, naked, in bed. It’s these little visual flairs that add so much to Kelly’s work on his debut album, Just the Tip from Comedy Central Records.
The album is about 50 minutes of descriptions about life, the universe, and everything from Kelly whose style seems like a manic Dane Cook constantly yelling to get his point across, and all over the place as far as content goes. The central theme to the album is the fact that he loves his life, but that married life, and the things that happen in it, are just ludicrous. His humor centers mainly on the guys for a good portion of the disc, with concerns like how to take a pee with the different states of the penis and his ultimate defiance for colorful poems from his wife about sprinkling on the seat is almost worth the price of admission alone.
One of the portly Kelly’s biggest weaknesses is food, and this is where a good chuck of his humor comes from constantly lambasting himself for being overweight and 3AM freak-outs about lost cupcakes in the trash. Like other plus sized comedians, mainly Kevin James in The King of Queens, the big guys can get all the laughs when making fun of themselves.
The disc has its gross out moments, such as “Nickelodeon Award“; which almost has you cringing in disbelief that someone would actually think this stuff up as well as its sweet and sentimental ones, well as sweet as you can get in the namesake track “Just the Tip“;. Other highlights include “Dude with a Sword,”; “She Knows Nothing About my Penis,”; and my personal favorite “Restaurants.”;
Some topics don’t work as well as others including “Punching Butter“; and the tired bit on Vegas and its all-too-familiar slogan. But more often than not Kelly hits his mark, and when he doesn’t his presentation is what brings even a dead joke back to life with a little flair.
Kelly’s material is nothing dramatically new or explosive, but he does a great job of bringing it to the stage with enough style, emphasis, and oomph that you’ll be laughing along with the live studio audience. Included with the disc is a DVD featuring a documentary so for the MSRP you’re getting a great package with enough material that you’ll be coming back to for a few selected bits time and time again.