Review: Rich Vos “Still Empty Inside”

Rich Vos’ third full-length release, Still Empty Inside, should not go unnoticed.

Despite the album title, the New Jersey-bred comedian is certainly not empty. In fact, he’s full of great jokes and a little resentment. Throughout the hour-long set, the veteran comedian unabashedly sheds a light on interracial dating, insecurity, materialistic buying, marriage, his three daughters, addiction, sobriety and much more.

Vos is such a downer and it’s awesome. He doesn’t really seem to like anyone and even goes far enough to dismiss whole cities, Montreal and Seattle. It’s all in good fun though. Any listener can tell that Vos loves messing around with the audience.

Vos’ no-holds-barred comedic style creates plenty of uncomfortable moments throughout the playful North Carolina crowd. At one point during “Bonnie and her Family,” Vos looks at a white man in the crowd and says, “you keep looking at that black dude like you wanna buy him, don’t you?” The crowd erupts with laughter as they are reminded of a time in human history that many people are not so proud to admit. The highlight of that same track is Vos’ description of his Canadian wife and her farm-bred family.

Vos contrasts anecdotes of his past as a cocaine addict with descriptions of his life as a father. “My four year old is the most precious little princess on this planet.” Nonetheless, Vos goes on to berate his fatherly merit when he describes story-time with his daughter. “She always wants me to tell her a story, so I’m ad-libbing a story, and I know she’s not getting it because…what the fuck does she know about threesomes?”

Purposefully out of line and always clever, Rich Vos has recorded a great album. Still Empty Inside might force some folks to revise their 2011 top-ten comedy albums list. You will definitely find yourself holding on to quotes to recite for friends. Not to mention, the album is on sale for only $6.99, which is quite the bargain if you ask me. Still Empty Inside will be a great gift for any fan of comedy this Holiday season.

Visit www.richvos.com for more tour dates, videos and more.