The Benson Interruption

Doug Benson is a great entertainer, no doubt about it, but his talents haven’t been served particularly well by the stand-up format in the past, and his albums are mixed bags of good-but-not-great material that pale in comparison to his finest work from the Doug Loves Movies podcast and his live show, The Benson Interruption. In the show that’s built around a standard lineup of stand-ups, Benson serves essentially as a heckler/collaborator operating from the front row, employing his world-class riffing to derail bits, question the authenticity of anecdotes, and sometimes hijack entire sets. Some performers—especially those with improv chops—can be excellent at rolling with the punches, and the additional friction enlivens material and gives the shows the energy of a high-wire act.

Updated 03/06/2012