Ari Shaffir gets ‘Revenge for the Holocaust’

Ari Shaffir gets Revenge for the Holocaust . . . and it’s funny.  The stand-up comedian and actor best known for his series of ironically racist comedic shorts, ”The Amazing Racist”, this year’s comedy film InAPPropriate Comedy and the DVD National Lampoon’s Lost Reality.   Shaffir has recently released a new comedy platter titled Revenge for the Holocaust.  The colored, vinyl-only release includes 23 tracks of raw, often explicit comedy.

His comedy often garners him not only laughs but death threats as well.  In fact, reportedly some of his material was recently “ripped to the internet by hundreds of different nerds and seen by millions of people, many of whom sent him death threats. Loving, wonderful death threats.”

The color-vinyl LP opens appropriately with an “Intro” quickly followed by “Jew Beard” and “Unsellable Segue “ which are all short and explicit and yet serve their purpose well enough to set the tone of the work.    “Elevator Racism” might work best on film or in person but it still has a strong, stinging seed of truth to it.

The observational humor continues with “Rape Crouch” and “16^th Street”.  The seventh selection, “Homeless”, is one of those moments in comedy when something is humorous because Shaffir says something everyone is thinking  It’s followed by another of his trademarks here “Unsellable Segue 2”.

“Mushrooms” is another track that would, to some extent, work a bit better on video so you could see the comedian but is nevertheless funny.  It is followed by one of the dirtiest routines titled “Money Shot”.  It has a great bit of truth and almost too much honesty to it that makes it work.

Another break, “Unsellable Segue 3”, leads into “Brand New Sober Alcoholics”, “Militant Vegetarians” and “That’s My Thing” are more moments of truth that everyone understands although the latter may well include some physical moments that are missed on an audio-only format.   He even takes on the controversial topic of “Gay Marriage”.

The honest moments continue with “I’m A Hypocrite” and the contemporary sports fans’ follow-up “#fuckthelakers”.  He continues his roll with “Dating Younger Women”, “Young Women Are Not All Stupid” and something perhaps all men search for “Perfect Vaginas”.

The next number is the near universal “My Body Is Failing Me” which is quickly eclipsed by his nigh-infamous “Sydney Harbor Bridge (13 Minute Sh*t Joke)” before he bows out with “Thank You, Denver”.  While Shaffir’s comedy might not be totally tight it just makes his performance here seem all the more real as if he is buying you a drink and sharing his thoughts which makes his “Unsellable Segue” and the rest of Ari Shaffir’s Revenge for the Holocaust very “sellable”.

(Images courtesy of  laughstub.com/Ari-Shaffir and reddit.com)