One of the greatest assets a comedian can have is likability. When the audience is on your side it’s a lot easier to get them laughing, even as you go after targets that might rub people the wrong way. In Decisions Aren’t My Thing, comedian Bill Squire utilizes his natural affability to great effect, producing a fun 42 minutes that always feels light-hearted even when it travels to crasser or taboo territory.
Bill covers a wide variety of topics in his new album, much of which could on the surface fall under “guy” humor. But both through his charisma and knack for finding clever ways around typical material, it never feels as clichéd as one would expect. Lots of comedians can tell a blowjob joke, but wouldn’t bother combining them with a solid math joke.
Some of his strongest material comes when he talks about his transgendered son, where his overall likability combines with a genuine sincerity that imbues his storytelling with an added layer of urgency. When he mocks people’s fears of letting trans people into bathrooms, it isn’t just a joke about how as a kid he used to use the urinal troths at Municipal Stadium with grown men and no one ever batted an eye. It’s also a defense of his own child’s existence, and his personal stake helps the jokes land that much harder.
It also helps Bill prove that the cries from comedians like Tim Allen that you can’t tell jokes anymore without upsetting the PC police are really nothing more than the complaints of people who just aren’t that funny. No one would accuse Bill Squire of being “woke,” but he tends to show a level of respect when dealing with cultural issues which in turn leads to some more creative ways of cracking jokes.
When discussing Tinder, Bill calls out guys for calling girls who turn them down sluts, then follows it up by pointing out it would be much more hurtful to call them “ma’am.” Bill uses these kinds of jokes to push beyond these easy targets and find new ground that isn’t really PC, but also isn’t built solely on the regressive tropes that cause the kind of backlash other comedians may complain about. Even at its worst, when he somewhat cringingly downplays Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out as “telling a secret,” it’s more of a way to transition and set up a story of him touching a guy’s penis in a threesome, and less about the difficulties trans people face. You could argue it could be done more gracefully (I would), but he is at least trying to not simply make transgendered people themselves the butt of the joke.
Not everything lands. An early section on cheating relies a little too heavily on stereotypes while lacking the twists and plays exhibited elsewhere. And a bit about how the world would be better if people treated their beliefs like hobbies starts strong (regarding the silliness of astrology, Bill launches into how terrible we are at keeping time and need to add a day every four years to make up for it), yet fizzles out as he ends it with the same LARPING/virgin jokes that have been made countless times already.
But if those are the customary lows of a comedy album, Bill still reaches plenty of highs.
Bill Squire is a typical guy, but he is a typical guy in a new and different world, and his recognition of this shows how the “everyman” persona of comedy is evolving. Decisions Aren’t My Thing is a good showcase of a good comedian navigating the changing cultural landscapes and still able to get laughs.
Decisions Aren’t My Thing is available on iTunes and all streaming platforms. You can also buy a physical copy here. Be sure to follow Bill Squire on Twitter @billsquire.
