Digital Comedy Special Review
Michael Malone: Casual Sext
3 stars (out of 5)
Casual Sext is a plethora of imaginative notes taken on modern dating; a laundry list of things women will never do that would make Michael Malone’s life awesome. Malone has terrific body control and is remarkable in accompanying his jokes with a story board of quick, explanatory gesture, making frequent, hilarious use of his microphone as a prop for a man-part, ominously flopping and well timed.
Genuinely delightful notions like Malone’s historical contemplation of the “dick-pic” which amounts to a pantomiming of Ben Franklin drunkenly drawing himself with a quill, power us through the one hour set that shows inklings of being absolute dynamite.
It could be foolish to throw a 3.0 at Casual Sext, and it would be downright unconscionable if more of the one hour special played like his one-man-two-character demonstration of how successful the daily “how was your day, honey” conversation would be if it took place during intercourse. But this is a set of highs and lows, a yin-yang of roar and bore on one of Dat Phan’s pie charts of laughter. There are quite a few self-reference jokes that weren’t the rip tide Malone hoped for. The guy can put on faces like a pool of water, just sometimes the content lagged and he occasionally spun off the audience in a poor direction he then had to eat with laughter.
On the other side, Malone has certain involved, obsessive moments that wouldn’t be possible without a venerable talent and a veteran confidence. Plus, just wait until you see how he relates getting a new puppy to having a three-sum. Despite the lulls, it’s hard to argue with the care-free nature of Casual Sext, the sheer stool-humping mic-as-dong fun of a night on stage in Indiana.
