Review: Shondee Superstar

A word from our editor:

Suc­cess in com­e­dy can be boiled down to this sim­ple truth: when you work hard, speak from the heart, and talk freely about tit­ties, the pos­si­bil­i­ties are end­less. Shondee Super­star is a superb album because it cap­tures all of those ideas. This is a must-have for your com­e­dy album col­lec­tion. I’m per­son­al­ly very hap­py the album clos­es with ​“I Just Need To Get Famous” because that joke is one she per­formed on the night she won Fun­ni­est Per­son in Austin and one that has always brought me irra­tional­ly gid­dy joy. ~ Valerie Lopez

Next week marks the release of Lashon­da Lester’s posthu­mous album, Shondee Super­star. I’ll be hon­est, even decid­ing which tense to write this review in was dif­fi­cult, but Lashon­da’s spir­it and influ­ence on the Austin com­e­dy scene still res­onate so strong­ly that ​“present” is the only tense that made sense.

This album comes two years after her pass­ing and it could­n’t come soon enough. I was con­cerned about how it would feel lis­ten­ing to her voice for the first time in a while, con­cerned I would cry. Cry I did, but not like you think. Shondee Super­star is so hilar­i­ous, it reminds you why Lester is still Austin’s Queen of Com­e­dy. I was cry­ing tears of absolute laugh­ter. It’s hard not to share bits, but trust me, you’ll nev­er view the auto indus­try the same way again.

Lester’s knack for sto­ry­telling paints the pic­ture of a diverse and fan­tas­tic voy­age. From her time in Detroit, ​“The Mur­der Mit­ten,” to her time with fam­i­ly in Austin, the every­day and the sur­re­al expe­ri­ences are covered.

Shondee Super­star shows how Lester can turn a sim­ple phrase with per­fect tim­ing and absolute­ly slay an audi­ence. Record­ed at The Velv, the video is also avail­able and shot beautifully!

Shondee Super­star is avail­able April 26^th on Stand Up! Records.