Tim Minchin: Definitely Funnier Than Yahoo Serious

The L.A. Times today had a profile of the Australian comedian Tim Minchin that asked the question: "Could this be comedy's next superstar?" With the subtitle "[he] might or might not be the next big thing" and so of course in my pursuit of new hottness and things that I can find and love but then disavow when they get big and "sell out" I decided to check out some of his stuff and I have to say he is really hard to categorize

hH ranges from a pretty straight cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah (the only thing in it that's funny is the guy at about 1:02 who proclaims in disbelief "You've gotta be fucking kidding me)

to a surprisingly heartwarming original song about acceptance and being okay with what you've got called "Not Perfect"

A song that sounds like it really could be from like Ben Folds, "Rock n Roll Nerd"

to a song about true love and relationships, "If You Really Loved Me"

or the benefits of synthetic humans, "Inflatable You"

A poetic reading and exploration of one's own psychology "Angry [feet]"

and a summary of Donnie Darko (that finally helped me understand that film)

and his interest range all the way to the geopolitical, and environmental concerns as can be evidenced by this medley of "A Peace Anthem for Palestine/ Canvas Bag"

but all in all he's pretty brilliant (with songs that are really catchy). His piano playing is really impressive and unlike Flight of the Conchords I can actually listen to him for more than 5 minutes at a time without getting annoyed. And so while I don't know what makes the "next big thing" (middle america/frat types-I can't get into their heads) I really enjoyed him (the first thing that really made me laugh over the past few days) and he is probably the greatest Australian comedic export ever (though when your main competition* is Yahoo Serious and Paul Hogan that distinction may not be that hard to achieve.)

*and I'm sure there are a lot of great Australian comedians, but I'm drawing a blank right now

Sphere: Related Content