Erik Allen

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• Erik Allen
• Dan Schlissel

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"When a new band starts, they get to release a six-song EP, but nobody releases comedy EPs." That thought was the impetus for a unique endeavor by Minneapolis-based comic Erik Allen, winner of the 2007 Funniest Person in the Twin Cities Contest. Allen conceived of a trilogy of albums that would recreate the ascendancy through the ranks of the comedy industry, from emcee to middle act to headliner. "We even ended this first one with me telling people where the bathrooms are and introducing the feature," he explains. "The next CD is a half-hour of drinking stories about my life before I stopped partying so much, and the headline album will be more personal material about my family." The idea appealed to Stand Up! Records owner Dan Schlissel, who produced This Is All I Have Right Now, the first volume in the cycle, which will be released this week when Allen headlines the Joke Joint. Allen is an easygoing observational comic who spins relatable concepts into absurdist riffs that map the geography of the quirky fantasyland of his mind. His Puckish delivery and warped optimism slyly twist pathos into cartoon caricature.
May 19-21, 8 p.m.; May 20-21, 10:30 p.m., 2011