Hot and Fluffy (Levity, 2007) by Gabriel Iglesias

Iglesias is a very funny comic.  His voices are hysterical and he is a fairly clean performer.  The passion for humor and appreciation he has for his fans is very admirable.  The only thing with this album, as with many stand-up comedy albums, is that some of the jokes are sight gags and obviously that's missed with just the audio recording. 

The Carnegie Hall Performance (Comedy Central, 2006) by Lewis Black

This is not only my favorite Lewis Black album, but one of the few double disc albums that I can play from beginning to end.  A lot of the material ended up in his book Nothing's Sacred (which is a great read), but obviously it is interpreted differently when the material is actually heard by its creator.  In my opinion, this album is one of the funniest LPs from the 00s.  It's a smart and well-sequenced piece of commentary on the times.

Take a Joke America (Warner Bros., 2000) by Carlos Mencia

The thing I like about Mencia's comedy is that he is an equal-opportunity offender.  He jokes about everything and that is very refreshing in the politically-correct climate that we so often find ourselves in today.  Although this album is not as strong as New Territory, it is a very solid collection of material that would ultimately resemble the type of content that Mencia would put on his Comedy Central show a few years later.

The Solution (Roc-A-Fella, 2007) by Beanie Sigel

"Dear self, can I talk to you/I been trying to have this conversation for years but you won't listen/Damn, are you that plain ignorant? your so indignant/Please come off that high chair your sitting in/Before you snatched from it, or strapped to it/Ya body used as a conduit, a thousand volts flow through you/Ya life gone over something foolish/Talking to you is so useless/Ya head harder than them walls you'll be housed in soon/Before ya body's embalmed and you lie in tomb/Open ya ears, eyes and heart, cause that hour's soon/And the hour shall cometh, when Ish Rahzel blows his trumpets/The sky shall crack, the stars will plummet/The sun will rise in the West you'll drown in your own sweat/And when that day shall be, I'll bet I'll see no bravery"

-Beanie Sigel, "Dear Self (Can I Talk to You)"

Gettin' It (Jive, 1996) by Too Short

This album is good, but a bit repetitive in terms of beats and content.  The album offers nothing new, but that doesn't mean it's not an enjoyable collection of tracks to rattle speakers with while cruising down the highway.  Put simply, it's Too Short doing what Too Short does which is exactly what it should've been considering this was billed as his "retirement" album when it was released. 

Here's Your Sign (Warner Bros., 1996) by Bill Engvall

Although this album may be memorable for its famous catchphrase, the rest of the material is a bit below what Engvall would eventually deliver the future.  The promise of a funny storyteller is there, but he hasn't quite hit his mark yet.  Because of this, the album seems a bit long.  It's a good release, but not a great one.  Fortunately, Engvall's overall albums improved over time.

The Saga Continues... (Bad Boy, 2001) by P. Diddy

Diddy's third album is a descent return to form.  Rather than the all-star Hip-Hop cast that cluttered Forever, Puff puts the spotlight back on his Bad Boy roster on this go-round and it works out well for everyone involved.  The flaws to this album though are that it's too long and that it has too many interludes.  All things considered, this LP is a fun listen where P. Diddy reclaimed his spot as one of Hip-Hop's elite.