Aisha Tyler Is Lit

Aisha Tyler is known for being an actress (Bedtime Stories, Balls of Fury, TV's Friends) and former host of Talk Soup, but she's also a standup comedienne of no mean ability, as amply demonstrated in this Comedy Central special. The show begins with a hilarious gangsta-rap video parody titled “No Ass at All,” in which Tyler laments her lack of “junk in the trunk.” Overall, the material is smart and perceptive, but while Tyler is reputed to have Mensa-grade intelligence, she doesn't adopt highbrow airs. In fact, she's a little too disarmingly frank about such personal physical matters as breast implants, bikini waxes, and favorite sexual positions, while also delivering tart, sassy observations about various aspects of our popular culture. For example, responding to the friends who importune her to drop MySpace in favor of Facebook, she asks, “Isn't that like the Geek Army fighting the Dweeb Battalion over who's more Nerdcore?” While it's a shame that Tyler sometimes feels compelled to rummage through comedy's nether regions for cheap laughs (she's far too bright to have to resort to crude, obvious jokes), this is the only drawback in an otherwise very entertaining standup comedy concert. Recommended, overall. Aud: P. (E. Hulse)