Balding, bitter potheads who love "real" heavy metal and Star Wars -- the real trilogy, not the ponderous prequel stuff -- never had a better friend than self-professed nerd
Brian Posehn, a strange fellow you might recognize from his work on Just Shoot Me or Mr. Show (although his "Gibbons" creation on Adult Swim's Tom Goes to the Mayor is his ultimate unsettling creation). The most surprising thing about
Live In: Nerd Rage is that all the oddball character actor work and edgy writing Posehn is known for seems like moonlighting after hearing his conversational and perfectly at home standup delivery. Cynicism, downtrodden disgust with self, and a heaping portion of gross sleaze are all juggled effortlessly by the man, and while his delivery flows like he's just talking with the guys, his act is tight and gives up more laughs per minute than most observational ramblers can offer. Being pop culture literate helps a lot, since references to the death metal band
Deicide, the television show Space 1999, and the importance of "Greedo shoots first" might be lost on squares, but they welcome home Posehn's target audience with arms wide open. Tacked onto the end of the disc are two numbers from his thrown-together metal supergroups, Posehn and
Titannica. "Metal by Numbers" is the winner just because of its great "Cookie! Cookie! Cookie!" reference to death metal, and if you haven't noticed yet,
Live In: Nerd Rage was released by the edgy metal label Relapse, proving Posehn ain't no nu-metal poser. If you like to laugh, own a crapload of black T-shirts, have repeatedly ruined rugs with bong water, and wear "dork" as a badge of honor, this is your new favorite album. ~ David Jeffries