I believe it was October when Joe Starr messaged me asking if I’d be willing to review his stand-up CD Heroic Effort. I agreed immediately. Joe Starr is easily one of my favorite people on the west coast and I love to help out a friend. Then I panicked.
There’s nothing worse than having to review something for a friend. I was afraid to listen to the album. What if it was bad? What if I have to pretend it was great? Or do I say it was bad and tarnish a decent friendship? Well I was in luck. When I finally got up the nerve to listen to the album I found myself laughing both loudly and frequently.
Joe Starr’s 51 minute set is packed with tons of pop culture references both mainstream and obscure. We start off with Joe start talking about his love of conspiracy theories in the first 5 minutes we get references to The Matrix, Saved by the Bell, Jurassic Park and Downton Abby.
Throughout the rest of the album you here stories about Joe Starr meeting Macho Man Randy Savage as a child, Furries, listening to his neighbors have sex and why Kevin Costner is the reason he no longer believes there is a God (among many other topics).
If you’re looking for a good entertaining Geek-centric comedy album, you can’t do much better than Joe Starr’s Heroic Effort. Pick up your copy on iTunes or Bandcamp.