All this Alabama talk's got me thinking about one of my fave Todd Barry bits:
I tour the South, though, I do. I love touring the South. Some people up North are afraid of the South, it's weird. I'll do a show in, like, Alabama. I'll tell someone I did a show in Alabama and they'll be like, "Oh my God! What was that like?" Oh, you know, chairs, a microphone. Oh, I'm sorry, I know what you're looking for. I'll tell you what it was like. Well, I flew into Birmingham. The Imperial Wizard from the Klan picked me up at the airport. Rode to the club on the back of an old mule. Tried to get a joke out over the shouts of "jewboy go home." At the end of the night I go "Where's my check?" They go, "You're not gettin' a check. You're gettin' this bag of porkrinds." Is that the answer you were looking for, you narrow-minded fake-liberal fuck?
He’s so good at tagging bits. And part of why I love it is because it goes the exact opposite direction you expect it to go. It's easy to be a NYC liberal who writes a bit attacking Alabama. Todd flips that. And I'd much rather hear a bit that ends with "you narrow-minded fake-liberal fuck" than one that just reinforces what I already think. I like when jokes make me question my own views and challenge my expectations. That's what the best comedy (and the best art in general) does.
