Fall CD roundup

Myq Kaplan and Micah Sherman
Please Be Seated (BSeen Media, $9)
Last Comic Standing vet Kaplan joins forces with Second City alum Sherman for their respective second albums, a live set of witty acoustic songs with cutting banter between numbers. Industry in-jokes abound on “Comedians’ National Anthem,” and Alanis Morissette’s ubiquitous 1996 hit belatedly raises their collective ire on “Inonic.” Despite limited production values, Seated is an inventive, welcome entry in the musical-comedy canon.

Hannibal Buress
Animal Furnace (Comedy Central Records, $10) The insouciant Eric Andre Show costar’s second release relies less on traditional joke structure than on personality and storytelling, including misunderstandings with women, student journalists and even venue security at his own taping. Hopefully the young Buress’s career success—e.g., stints writing for Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock, and this CD adaptation of an hour-long Comedy Central special—won’t land him in the man-it’s-crazy-to-be-rich-and-famous-and-ain’t-that-hilarious trap that’s befallen the likes of Aziz Ansari.

Gabe Liedman
Hiyeeee!! (ASpecialThing Records, $9)

Liedman is one half of the duo Gabe & Jenny (with Jenny Slate) and also part of Williamsburg’s Big Terrific variety show (with Max Silvestri). Liedman’s solo debut is a meticulous, self-parodying exploration of his uptight, gay-NYC-Jew worldview, from his very specific media-consumption habits to almost spraying Lou Reed with mace over a miscommunication about ice cream.

The Apple Sisters
1943 (Self-released, $10)

High-concept comedy plus obsessive period research: Candy, Cora and Seedy Apple—respectively, Rebekka Johnson, Kimmy Gatewood and Sarah Lowe—parody old-timey radio serials, harmonizing the hell out of ditties concerning World War II, domestic abuse and the weight-loss benefits of tapeworms. Keep an ear out for Paul F. Tompkins as FDR.

James Adomian
Low Hangin Fruit (Earwolf, $10) Come for the fast-rising character comic’s impressions of pop-culture players (Paul Giamatti, Gary Busey) and politicians (Jesse “The Body” Ventura, Ron Paul), stay for the parade of villains that Adomian realizes are inexplicably gay (Skeletor, Starscream and the Sheriff of Nottingham, to name a few). Although there aren’t a ton of punch lines per se, consider Fruit a none-too-soon audition for SNL.

Demetri Martin
Standup Comedian (Comedy Central Records, $9) Martin doggedly remains a polarizing figure, mucking through such banal stand-up topics as appliances and animals, truly shining as a writer only when he reaches the now-standard portion of his show filled with one-liners. (“I want to fill a piñata with actual animal guts,” “I saw rice milk in the store. I didn’t even know rice had nipples.”) It’s definitely time to lose the guitar and harmonica, though.

Brent Weinbach
Mostly Live (ASpecialThing Records, $10)

Random voices, impressions, stories, characters, songs, crowd participation, misdirection and never a dull or predictable moment—that’s what you get with Brent Weinbach. He remains the most bizarrely, gloriously weird performer on the scene, and three albums in, he’s only getting more out-there. His singular talent is best experienced fully live; fortunately, Mostly Live delivers all of Weinbach’s brilliance without any of the potential audience discomfort.

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