PAUL F. TOMPKINSFreak Wharf
(A Special Thing)
**** 1/2 (out of 5)
I have never heard of smashed pennies before, but listening to Paul F. Tompkins ponder their dumbfounding pointlessness as an amusement park souvenir on his new album Freak Wharf had me laughing for five minutes straight. Now, why is this? Well, it probably helps that “smashed pennies” is an inherently funny-sounding phrase. But the real key is the precision of Tompkins’ language, and his determination to examine his absurd topics from all conceivable angles, calmly squeezing every last ounce of humour out of every single premise. In Tompkins’ hands, an explanation of why cake is superior to pie — or more precisely, why frosting is superior to pie filling — becomes a masterpiece of comic rhetoric.
Tompkins has razor-sharp comic timing — no comedian save Chris Rock makes more effective use of sudden changes in the volume of his voice — but it’s his flair with language that appeals the most to me. You can see the delight he takes in words (and their misuse) in his routine about the lurid young-adult book Go Ask Alice, whose tone-deaf attempt at teen slang gives the album its title. “Given the choice,” Tompkins says, “I would go to the freak wharf every single time. You get to meet carnival folk, and you’re by the ocean. It sounds delightful!” It sure does. Take a visit and see.
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