Album Review: The Pandy

A much-needed silver lining to our current state of lock-down, The Pandy is a wonderful time capsule of the state of comedy in the last year. A team effort between three Toronto comedians, The Pandy captures the spirit of 2020 perfectly. The album was recorded outdoors at a DIY backyard comedy show, complete with police sirens and traffic noises that help to reinforce the theme of the evening: the world sucks and we’re all just doing the best we can.

Alex Wood kicks off the evening by coming to terms with the lowered expectations of the evening. “The pressure’s off,” Wood explains, “because I still know this is a top five night in your month.” Finding joy in everything from the polarizing effects of social media to Trump’s political antics (because at least it’s entertaining!), Wood tackles the harsh realities of the pandemic in an absurdly optimistic light.

Second on the album is Tamara Shevon, who seems remarkably unscathed by the collapse of the live entertainment industry. With her trademark ‘hashtag-ability’ (#snackdick #flattenthecage), Shevon charms the audience with a few hot takes on Subway sandwiches, sage advice on how to avoid both fitness and diet in one fell swoop, and an iconic laugh that can be heard throughout the album. 

The evening comes to a close with a perspective on the human condition that is somehow perfectly poised between hopeful and cynical. Rob Bebenek hits us rather unapologetically with some of the harder truths of our current epoch, breaking down the complexity of the times with an analogy about poisoned jelly beans.

Overall, The Pandy is an exercise in micro-nostalgia during the second wave of an open-ended catastrophe. And it’s exactly what you’d expect from a comedy album that emerged out of the rubble of a global crisis - three great comedians simply doing their best given the unique and unprecedented circumstances of this time. And not surprisingly, their best is still pretty damn funny.

The Pandy was released March 24, 2021
Listen to it here.