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Review - UK Guardian

Why I love Joe Frank

Paul Carr
Monday July 28, 2003

The Guardian

Jim Carrey; Robin Williams; David Letterman; Donald Rumsfeld - America is no slouch when it comes to inflicting psychotically unfunny comedians on the rest of the planet. If wide-headed space aliens (such as those in Independence Day, say) were ever to intercept an episode of Saturday Night Live or The Tonight Show With Jay Leno they might very well conclude that "American" is earth-speak for "unable to make proper jokes" and that Bill Hicks was killed because he refused to conform. And I would probably have agreed with them, until I discovered Joe Frank.

To say that Joe Frank is by far the most brilliant comic in America is like describing Victor Lewis Smith as by far the funniest columnist in the Evening Standard. It's a one horse race. But while Lewis Smith has squandered his comedopoly on painfully contrived one-joke journojism, Frank has created a series of dead-pan radio monologues so sharp and intelligent that during the quiet bits you can almost hear God taking notes.

I first encountered Joe Frank when a friend emailed me some MP3s of his shows with the understated suggestion that I should "listen to these". Naturally I was expecting some kind of hilarious Yankovician spoof of Hit Me Baby One More Time or a satirical mash up of George W Bush speeches. Instead my cynical ears were caressed by tales of Saharan ski resorts, bronze exoskeletons, invisible bank tellers and the conspiracy theories of OJ Simpson's valet, intoned against a soundtrack so hypnotic that I nearly fell off my legs. It didn't take long to realise why my friend had been so restrained in his recommendation - the only way to truly appreciate the genius of An Enterprising Man or Bible Salesman is by listening to them yourself. Fortunately www.joefrank.com allows you to do just that. I'll see you on the other side.