Ginger Cookie Disco: Michael Showalter's Sandwiches & Cats

I've finally gotten around to giving Michael Showlter's debut comedy album Sandwiches & Cats a listen. I absolutely love Michael Showalter, but I'm typically not a fan of most stand-up comedy and I never find myself sitting around listening to comedy albums on repeat all the live long day. Surprisingly, I rather enjoyed Sandwiches & Cats upon a first listen and have already managed to make it through the entire album a few times thus far. I'm embarrassed to admit that several times I found myself sitting there with my headphones on, chuckling out loud with no one else present in the room. I suppose that's a testament to just how powerful and moving Sandwiches & Cats truly is.

One highlight of the comedy album includes Michael Showalter's dismay at being mistaken for Screech. "He thought that I was one of the most iconic losers ever of all time. Do you know how badly that hurts?" On another track, Showalter goes through a list of some pretty unbelievable alternate names for the so-called restless leg syndrome, including 'jiggly legs', 'the kicks' and 'sewing machine foot'. Michael Showalter's joke about his love for DVR is interrupted by a mewing sound coming from the front row. He then spends several minutes marveling at the audacity of the woman sitting in the front row who brought her two cats to his comedy show. An actual video of that spectacle can be seen here.

Michael Showalter's Sandwiches & Cats is mixed bag of observational humor, slight self-deprecation and a few separately recorded comedy sketch songs. Amazingly enough, the songs aren't bad. For example, It's quite enjoyable to hear Showalter's song abut the ten commandments of sandwich making, where he yells excitedly (as only Showalter can) about how mustard goes with everything.

My absolute favorite track on the album is 'The Apartment', where Showalter talks about the honor of being editor in chief of his high school literary magazine and then proceeds to read through a dramatic poem that his teenage self had written. The way Michael Showalter reads the poem is so amazing, you just have to hear it for yourself. All in all, Michael Showalter's brand of comedy is both hilarious and comforting. He makes me quite glad to be alive and a part of this world, a world where Starbucks sells thermoses and copies of Akeelah and the Bee. I highly recommend giving Michael Showalter's Sandwiches & Cats a listen.