This weekend: Matt Braunger's "Shovel Fighter"

[BillBrasky]

Comedian and "lightning rod for awkwardness" Matt Braunger takes the stage in his first ever one-hour Comedy Central stand-up special, "Matt Braunger: Shovel Fighter." With his enthusiastic style and maybe even a little singing and dancing, Braunger lays out his genius business ideas for a strip club women will really want to visit, a frighteningly realistic frozen dinner product, and the world’s most needed new airline. Braunger also imparts key life advice, explaining the one sound everyone should learn to recognize, the importance of trusting one’s instincts to be afraid, and why working in a greeting card store may not quite be the worst job on the planet.

The special debuts this Saturday, July 14th at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT. The “Matt Braunger: Shovel Fighter” extended and uncensored DVD, featuring 15 minutes of content not seen in the broadcast, will be released on July 17th by Comedy Central Home Entertainment. The bonus features include commercials for “Lonelyman Dinners,” a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the open, and Braunger’s pitch for the stand-up special.

Also, on July 17th, Comedy Central Records will release the “Matt Braunger: Shovel Fighter” digital album, recorded live at The Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland, OR. The special also will be available on July 17th in HD exclusively on Xbox LIVE and Sony PlayStation Network, and in SD on iTunes and Samsung Media Hub. The album is currently available for pre-order on Itunes.

[ImAScooby]

Oh shit! Shovel Face is coming out already?!?

[BillBrasky]

I thought Matt's special was good, of course, even though I'd heard most of the material before, except for the Bob's Big Boy bit and the "Shovel Fighter" bit. The shovel fighter bit was a little strange in that Matt generally is conversational and coming from a real place of talking about himself and stuff that has really happened to him during his standup, and this was kind of a performance piece that had nothing to do with reality. So it was a little jarring when he suddenly goes into it without warning; he even commented on the fact by saying afterwards that it freaked out the audience a little. It reminded me of something Will Ferrell would do during an SNL sketch or one of his movies- Matt does remind me a bit of Ferrell sometimes in his mannerisms and physicality.

I enjoyed it even though it was a little different than what he normally does- I noticed that there seemed to be some serious editing going on during that part though, like it was cut down a lot from the way it was performed live.