Ray Harrington - Overwhelmed (CD)

Accidental patriot and award-winning documentarian Ray Harrington (“Be a Man”) understands that his actual job as a comedian is to talk at you, but he’s way more into listening. It’s just so much more interesting—there’s always that electrifying possibility that overhearing a mispronounced word, jumbled phrase, or dangling participle will send him screaming into the hills (just not to camp—never camping). Equally possible? A genuine piddle-snort of pure joy, when your body simply forgets how to breathe because, well, Ray Harrington’s the kinda guy that takes your breath away, whether he’s self-dredging to beat the heat or setting the odds on a fist fight between Anne Frank and Helen Keller. Equally introspective, nuanced, and insightful and ready to pull the ripcord on the dick jokes, Harrington is known for a polished style that leaves audiences wondering where the set, the improv, and the banter part ways—did he plan and practice each word, each aside, and each phrase? Is he a virtuoso struggling with fatherhood, manhood, and “the Februaries”, nimbly pivoting from bit to bit with plenty of room for the unexpected? Yes, yes, yes. Even better? We’ve included a bonus track. “Overwhelmed”—the first step in fully embracing his own imperative to “Be a Man”—is just that good.