Climate Change
Kate Clinton
Whyscrack
Some stand-up comics lose their edge as they get older, relying on shtick and indulging in easy jokes. Not Kate Clinton. On her eighth comedy album (and in her sixtieth year) Clinton is in rare form, and her timing and delivery have never been better as she ruminates with bemusement and sharp insight on everything from gay retirement homes, Republican scandals, designer dogs and the Bush regime. Current events is Clinton's specialty, and the bulk of her ever-changing act is made up of her observations on American culture and politics, observations she delivers like gentle sucker punches: she's so nice and folksy, and she makes cute jokes about cyberdykes, then wham! She's raking Larry Craig and Dick Cheney over the coals. True, her material is so topical that by the time it makes it to CD it can feel less than fresh. But if you've heard these topics joked about before, you probably haven't heard them handled with such charm and wit. This disc isn't dated; it's another greatest-hits collection.