Review: Tyler Morrison: Comedy Exile

Tyler Mor­ri­son can arguably be called the first guest of what pre-dates Com­e­dy Wham. Con­trib­u­tor Lara Smith has been a long-time fan and – on a trip to Cana­da – I had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to sit down with Tyler to cement my fan­dom. Mor­ri­son then and now has been pro­lif­ic: as a stand-up per­former, but also as a writer for Roast Bat­tles south and north of the bor­der (Cana­di­an, in case that need­ed to be said).

In that pro­lif­ic vein, he’s released 2 albums simul­ta­ne­ous­ly. The first being Sav­age, and then this mas­ter­piece, Com­e­dy Exile. It’s not clear if Mor­ri­son is self-impos­ing exile, if he’s hop­ing to achieve exile, or if the 11 tracks on this album cov­er top­ics that are typ­i­cal­ly asso­ci­at­ed with being exiled. Some of the top­ics, on their sur­face, are the top­ics that might make some cringe (one track is called ​“Snowflakes”, but we won’t spoil any of the con­tent), but as with many things, you have to lis­ten for the set­up and the con­text and then you can appre­ci­ate how Mor­ri­son is able to craft a joke.

Obser­va­tion­al, tak­en from his own life, pep­pered with word play (my per­son­al favorite has to be in rela­tion to the demise of House of Cards), and filled with that sharp-tongued style that you’ve come to expect from Mor­ri­son. Com­e­dy Exile builds slow­ly and reach­es its apex with the last 2 tracks (“Call Me Cait­lyn” and ​“Christ­mas Town”), but those tracks only work if you’ve been along for the entire ride. It’s like the apéri­tif to the steak entrée, you shouldn’t have one with­out the other.

You can find both Sav­age and Com­e­dy Exile on Vimeo and Spo­ti­fy. Get your copies to tide you over until Tyler can pro­duce even more com­e­dy for us to enjoy.

Get more of Tyler at Tyler​Mor​ri​son​.ca, and links to his albums below.