Los Angeles-based comedian Blake Wexler is releasing an album next week that’s a little different than your usual comedy album. Titled 12 Years of Voicemails from Todd Glass to Blake Wexler, the album consists of nearly 50 tracks chronicling Wexler’s 10+ year friendship with Glass as well as Wexler’s own evolution from 16-year-old aspiring standup to working comedian, thanks in part to Glass’s encouragement and advice. Here’s more info on the project from Wexler:
I first met Todd in 2004, when I had just started doing open mics at the age of 16. I had gone to see him at Helium Comedy Club with my friend Chris in Philadelphia because we were fans of his from Last Comic Standing, and after the show Chip Chantry introduced us to Todd, which was the coolest thing in the world. I told Todd I had just started stand-up, and he gave me his phone number and told me to call him whenever I needed advice. Over the next 12 years, I saved every voicemail Todd left me. At first I started saving them because I thought it was so cool one of my comedy idols would take the time to call me and leave me messages. I kept saving them because they were so funny I’d listen to them like tracks off a stand-up album. Todd literally prepares for voicemails like mini-comedy specials, some of which include Todd making fake sexual advances toward my grandmother, and accusing Marc Maron of editing his WTF appearance to make it seem like Todd came out of the closet. Todd also gets high out of his mind and leaves a four minute rave-review of Toblerone candy. In addition to being some of the funniest things I’ve ever heard, the album also serves as a really cool documentation of how two people became really close friends. I couldn’t be more proud of this thing, I don’t think anything like this has really been done before, so it’d mean the world to me if you’d give it a listen.
Ahead of the album’s release next week, Wexler gave us two tracks to premiere early – one is the voicemail Wexler references above about Glass’s coming-out WTF episode from 2012, and the other is a very self-explanatory voicemail from 2011 titled “Todd Is Really High in an Uber.†Check out both tracks below:
The album is available next Friday, January 12th, but it’s currently available to pre-order over at iTunes.