Fred Armisen: Standup for Drummers (2018)

recommended

Best movie of this year hands down!

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Standup for Drummers is a huge disappointment, whether you're a drummer or beat deaf, humorous or puritan. It disappoints because it isn't the least bit funny and even the drumming is tiresome. The Netflix tease for this Fred Armisen show captured my attention. I like drums. I like comedy. I like Fred Armisen. But, man oh man, I thought this was pretty bad, save for a few bits. Mostly, I was bored and disappointed and upon reflection, I can't say I laughed a single time. Where's the comedy? Armisen can drum, but it wasn't like he put on an amazing percussion performance either. I liked his review of drum kits across several decades, and his letter correspondence with John Waters was a touching piece. But both of those account for a tiny part of the act. All of his bits started with amateur openings like, "this is an impression of...," "did you ever notice...," and I'm not sure if that was for fun, all part of the act, or if he really is that bad at stand up. The drumming was better than the comedy. But even if he flipped it and went with, Drumming for Comedians, he still wouldn't have enough for a show. Even when Armisen and three professional drummers are on the stage together, he chooses to bore us to death. They all tap along to the same boring beat. Maybe he intended this to be funny in some way-if that was the intention it didn't work because no one was laughing, instead people were clapping along, probably waiting for something thrilling, but all they got was a flat, dry, ho-hum, and mind-mumblingly dumb synchronized rat-a-tats. It was the best opportunity to wow his audience and instead he had everyone tap away to the same beat, killed his show, the audience, and me.

The title is spot on as far as I am concerned. I know about 4 drummers though, and I would not know they would enjoy this either. Fred starts with some very dull stories, some very weak impression (which he stupidly announces) and continues on a path that I personally found somewhat boring. When he does the accents, you can see he has talent and wit. But even that wasn't funny. I switched Fred off after 10 minutes. With deep regret. I sincerely hope all the drummers in the world had a blast.I know, especially with comedy beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and comedy can't really be reviewed ............but this makes me truly wonder: This is what comedy is now? What's next? Comedy for Trombone players?

Fred starts off with a familiar tone that one would expect from him but continues on with lazy joke writing and overdone gags. Many of the "relatable" jokes for drummers seem to be just "You know when..." and "Don't you just hate it when (insert relatable thing for drummers)" All in all one can see he is a talented comedian but his attempt at trying to be niche seem to have failed in my opinion.

2/7/18. I didn't know what to expect from a Fred Armisen standup. Oh, yes, I do in a way. I have watched him for years on SNL. This was like watching him playing Garth (without Kristen Wiig's Kat). Basically, he was all over the place, with occasional funny bits. The only saving grace was when he talked about and played his drums. He is actually quite a good drummer. Nice he had other drummers do their thing, especially Shiela E. So, it's a toss-up. Watch it if you like his humor, or watch it if you like drums.