Mitch Hedberg
The Complete Collection
One of the great perks of listening to Marc Maron’s WTF podcast is all the stories you get to hear about Mitch Hedberg. He was unique, absurd, kind, generous, and apparently quite the stud (Janeane Garofalo freaked out when she found out Mitch had a crush on her). It’s fun to hear these stories, because after all these years, I don’t think we’re quite satisfied with the answers we’ve uncovered in the mystery that was Mitch Hedberg. As for his standup, there simply hasn’t been anything quite like it. There have been plenty of imitators, but that’s what they’ll always be: imitators.
Hedberg’s process was deceptively simple because it was thought-driven one-liners. His comedy merely revealed the punchline to a joke you would have to complete in your head. As such, his sets were definitely dense as far as how much thinking his audiences were required to do. Hedberg would blaze through dozens of jokes, with a certain stoner delivery, at a rapid fire, some genius-like in their depth, others so obvious you would kick yourself for not having written it yourself. Seriously, very few comics have found the unique voice and concept of Hedberg, and that’s a testament to the man’s comedy.
This collection is a fitting tribute to such a great comedian. Comedy Central has gone and collected the man’s entire discography in vinyl format, and honestly all three albums are highlights. Strategic Grill Locations was Hedberg at his rawest, accompanied by an upright base, Mitch All Together (my favorite) was his comedy at its most honed and pure, and Do you Believe in Gosh an album that contained the unpolished material that were going to make up his next album. All of these now get the vinyl treatment for the first time. And the goodies are plenty in this box set. Not only has Comedy Central presented these albums with new artwork on 180g vinyl and hardcover slipcase, but they’ve also includes a booklet with Hedberg’s notes, photos, stories from fellow comedians, and short anecdotes on his life, but we also get some unreleased material like a very early opening set from 1995. All this makes The Complete Vinyl Collection a beauty and simply a must-have for comedy nerds.
It’s clear from listening to WTF that Mitch was very beloved. And with this collection, that love is going to transcend and last a very long time.
Buy it here!
