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Pure Comedy
Pure Comedy
Pure Comedy
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Pure Comedy
Studio album by
Father John Misty
ReleasedApril 7, 2017 (2017-04-07)
RecordedMarch 2016
Studio
  • United Recording
  • Five Star Studios
Genre
Length74:17
Label
Producer
Father John Misty chronology
I Love You, Honeybear
(2015) 		Pure Comedy
(2017) 		God's Favorite Customer
(2018)
Singles from Pure Comedy
  1. "Pure Comedy"
    Released: January 23, 2017
  2. "Two Wildly Different Perspectives"
    Released: January 30, 2017
  3. "Ballad of the Dying Man"
    Released: February 1, 2017
  4. "Total Entertainment Forever"
    Released: March 4, 2017
  5. "Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution"
    Released: April 6, 2017

Pure Comedy is the third studio album by American folk musician Josh Tillman under his pseudonym Father John Misty. Its release was announced on January 23, 2017. It was released on April 7, 2017, on Bella Union in the UK and Europe and on Sub Pop in the rest of the world.[4] This is Tillman's third studio album since his departure from Fleet Foxes. It was produced by Josh Tillman in collaboration with Jonathan Wilson, sound engineer Trevor Spencer and composer/double-bassist Gavin Bryars.[4]

Production

[edit]

Songwriting

[edit]

Most of Pure Comedy was written in 2015.[5] It touches on themes of progress, technology, fame, the environment, politics, aging, social media, human nature, human connection and his own role in it all. Tillman included an 1800-word-long essay about its symbolism and meaning in the release announcement email to his fan club.

Pure Comedy is the story of a species born with a half-formed brain. The species’ only hope for survival, finding itself on a cruel, unpredictable rock surrounded by other species who seem far more adept at this whole thing (and to whom they are delicious), is the reliance on other, slightly older, half-formed brains. This reliance takes on a few different names as their story unfolds, like “love,” “culture,” “family,” etc. Over time, and as their brains prove to be remarkably good at inventing meaning where there is none, the species becomes the purveyor of increasingly bizarre and sophisticated ironies. These ironies are designed to help cope with the species’ loathsome vulnerability and to try and reconcile how disproportionate their imagination is to the monotony of their existence.[6]

Recording

[edit]

Pure Comedy was recorded in March 2016 at United Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Its basic tracking and vocals were recorded live, in no more than two takes each. It was mixed by Tillman, Wilson and sound engineer Trevor Spencer, and mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios. Featured instruments include strings and horns. Bryars, along with additional contributors Nico Muhly and Thomas Bartlett, provided choral arrangements.[5]

Promotion

[edit]

Short film

[edit]

In light of the album announcement, Tillman released his 25-minute short film Pure Comedy: The Film, captured by a six-person room throughout the recording of the album.[7] He co-directed with Grant James. It is a monochromatic depiction of the live tracking and Tillman's writing process.

Singles

[edit]

The single "Pure Comedy" was released on January 23, 2017, with a music video animated by Matthew Daniel Siskin featuring snippets of popular Internet videos.[8]

The album's second single, "Two Wildly Different Perspectives", was released with a music video also animated by Siskin, and also containing popular videoclips, on January 30, 2017.[9]

The third single released was "Ballad of the Dying Man" on February 1, 2017.[10]

The fourth single, "Total Entertainment Forever", was released on the night it was performed on Saturday Night Live (along with "Pure Comedy") on March 4, 2017.[11]

Other music videos

[edit]

On April 26, 2017, a music video produced by Adam Green was released for "Total Entertainment Forever". It features a crucified Macaulay Culkin as Kurt Cobain seen in a virtual reality world pictured in papier-mâché.

Jacknife Films, a production company best known for their work on Radiohead's "Burn the Witch" and Run the Jewels's "Don't Get Captured" music videos, took on the project of a music video for "Things It Would Have Been Helpful To Know Before the Revolution" that was released on August 3, 2017.[12][13]

Pure Comedy world tour

[edit]

The Pure Comedy world tour, initially meant to be in the form of a musical,[14] began in April 2017 and continued until early 2018.

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.0/10[15]
Metacritic85/100[16]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStar[17]
The A.V. ClubB+[18]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[3]
The GuardianStarStarStarStarStar[19]
The IndependentStarStarStarStar[20]
MojoStarStarStarStarStar[21]
NMEStarStarStarStarStar[22]
Pitchfork7.6/10[23]
QStarStarStarStar[24]
Rolling StoneStarStarStarStar[25]

Pure Comedy received acclaim from critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 85, based on 36 reviews, which signifies "universal acclaim".[16] A review from The Record Store Clerk remarked that "Pure Comedy (shows) a mature artist proving that he can continue to make music at the top of his game and likely will for years to come."[26] In a highly positive review for Chorus.fm, Aaron Mook writes, "Pure Comedy is a gorgeous album, an album that will remain important in the context of Tillman’s career, but above all things, it's a genuine album. Sometimes, it’s hard to empathize with someone who refuses to tell you what you want to hear – especially if what they’re saying is true."[27] Writing for No Depression, John Amen also offered high praise, calling Pure Comedy Tillman's "most ambitious, cohesive, and provocative release to date."[28]

However, the album did divide some critics. No Ripcord gave the album a 4/10, saying "One of the most frustrating releases of recent times. Tracks meander insipidly, crushed by the weight of a solipsistic 'message' and the real moments of quality only serve as a reminder of what might have been."[29] Spin stated, "He’s not really in a fun mood, and the music follows. The lushness has diminished, and the work evokes increasing comparisons to ‘70s singer-songwriters like Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson, who hid their acidic commentary within sturdy pop structures."[30]

Pure Comedy received nominations for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package for its deluxe edition at the 60th Grammy Awards, winning the latter in a tie with Magín Díaz' El Orisha de la Rosa.[31][32]

Accolades

[edit]
Publication Accolade Rank Ref.
Drowned in Sound Favourite Albums of 2017
71
[33]
Exclaim! Top 20 Pop & Rock Albums of 2017
11
[34]
Loud and Quiet Top 40 Albums of 2017
23
[35]
NME NME's Albums of the Year 2017
4
[36]
New York Daily News The 25 Best Albums of 2017
17
[37]
Riot Mag Riot's Albums of the Year 2017
8
[38]
Rolling Stone 50 Best Albums of 2017
19
[39]
Rough Trade Albums of the Year 2017
23
[40]
Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 2017
22
[41]
The Skinny The Skinny's Top 50 Albums of 2017
50
[42]
The Sunday Times 100 Best Albums of the Year
1
[43]
Uncut 75 Best Albums of 2017
13
[44]
Uproxx All The Best Albums of 2017
5
[45]
Vinyl Me, Please The 30 Best Albums of 2017
4
[46]

Commercial performance

[edit]

Pure Comedy debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 with 35,000 album-equivalent units, of which 33,000 were pure album sales.[47]

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Josh Tillman.

No.TitleLength
1."Pure Comedy"6:23
2."Total Entertainment Forever"2:53
3."Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution"4:18
4."Ballad of the Dying Man"4:50
5."Birdie"5:19
6."Leaving LA"13:11
7."A Bigger Paper Bag"4:41
8."When the God of Love Returns There'll Be Hell to Pay"4:04
9."Smoochie"3:45
10."Two Wildly Different Perspectives"3:12
11."The Memo"5:16
12."So I'm Growing Old on Magic Mountain"9:58
13."In Twenty Years or So"6:27
Total length:74:17

Personnel

[edit]

Charts

[edit]

Pure Comedy reached the first position on the Billboard Rock Albums,[48] Alternative Music,[49] and Folk Music[50] charts on the week of April 29, 2017, a first for Tillman.[51]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Pure Comedy

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia

Pure Comedy is the third studio by American (Josh Tillman), released on April 7, 2017, through in the United States and in . Co-produced by Tillman and Jonathan Wilson, it comprises 13 tracks spanning approximately 75 minutes, characterized by orchestral swells, piano ballads, and layered instrumentation that evoke a symphonic yet sardonic tone. The album delivers a biting philosophical meditation on human absurdity, dissecting themes such as , , technological , and societal through lyrics that blend irony, despair, and occasional tenderness. Critically, Pure Comedy achieved commercial success by topping Billboard's Top Rock Albums, Alternative Albums, and Americana/Folk Albums charts upon release, marking Tillman's first number-one placements in those categories. It earned a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package in and a nomination for Best Alternative Music Album, reflecting recognition for its artistic design and sonic ambition amid broader acclaim for Tillman's lyrical acuity. However, the record's unrelenting cynicism and epic scope provoked controversy, with detractors labeling it preachy or excessively bleak—evident in Tillman's contemporaneous interviews where he provocatively challenged cultural pieties on topics from celebrity worship to —while supporters hailed its unflinching causal dissection of modernity's contradictions as a modern corrective to complacent . This polarization underscores the album's defining trait: a commitment to unvarnished empirical observation over palliative narratives, positioning it as a polarizing artifact in indie rock's tradition of intellectual provocation.

Development and Concept

Songwriting Process

Josh Tillman initiated the songwriting for Pure Comedy in late 2015, transitioning from the personal romantic narratives of (2015) to broader examinations of societal dysfunction and human irrationality. This evolution reflected his growing frustration with collective human behavior amid escalating political polarization, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which Tillman later described as a culmination of the album's satirical absurdities. Personal sobriety achieved in 2014, following a depressive episode in New Orleans, sharpened Tillman's observations of everyday human folly—such as public displays of excess on —which informed the album's core critiques of vanity and denial. He adopted stream-of-consciousness methods at , allowing initial ideas to emerge intuitively before refining them from a detached, almost cosmic perspective to underscore inherent contradictions in and behavior. The title track "Pure Comedy" exemplifies this approach, originating from reflections on biological mismatches like oversized brains relative to birth canals, symbolizing humanity's perpetual quest for meaning amid chaos; Tillman iterated on such drafts to distill unvarnished societal indictments without overt moralizing. Songs underwent prolonged revision—some spanning three years—with guiding lyrical to cultivate the album's wry, ironic tone, pausing frequently to amend for precision and emotional . This methodical honing, spanning into 2016, prioritized capturing raw absurdities over polished narratives, setting the foundation for the record's expansive .

Thematic Foundations

Pure Comedy's conceptual framework, as articulated by Josh Tillman, posits humanity as a endowed with an incompletely developed , compelled to fabricate structures like , culture, and family to endure existence on an indifferent . Tillman described the album as a 75-minute immersion in the resultant chaos, encompassing , misery, truth, and boredom, without resolution or advocacy for alteration. This perspective draws from observable patterns in , where early conceptions of a supreme "Sky-Man" entity fostered illusions of superiority, evolving into fractious ideologies that delineate "me versus not-me" divisions in , , and . Tillman emphasized a foundational realism: societal conditions persist because humans collectively prefer them, favoring conveniences and self-deceptions over reversion to a harsher natural order, such as one dominated by predation and . This extends to critiques of utopian pursuits, including progressive distractions via and , which mask underlying alienation, as well as atheistic or secular frameworks reliant on pharmaceuticals and ephemeral cultural fixes to evade existential voids. Religious dogmatism fares no better, portrayed as another mechanism for imposing order on vulnerability, prone to rigidity and exclusionary error, mirroring the flaws in its secular counterparts as empirically inadequate responses to human limitations. While steeped in cynicism toward institutional and ideological failures, Tillman incorporated subtle affirmations of potential transcendence, such as through artistic expression or interpersonal , acknowledging a residual hope amid the exasperation. He rejected prescriptive judgment, framing the work instead as an observational lens on inevitable follies, informed by personal history including a repressive evangelical upbringing, yet unbound by endorsement of any corrective . This approach ensures equitable scrutiny of all coping mechanisms, highlighting their shared basis in rather than verifiable .

Production

Recording Sessions

The principal recording sessions for Pure Comedy occurred at United Studios in Hollywood, , throughout 2016, with co-production handled by Josh Tillman and Jonathan Wilson and engineering by Tillman's longtime collaborator Trevor Spencer. Sessions emphasized live band tracking to achieve a cohesive sonic texture, departing from prior albums' more layered, multi-instrumental solo approaches by Tillman and Wilson. This method involved meticulous attention to instrumental frequencies, drum selections, and microphone placements to support the album's expansive arrangements, as Wilson noted in discussions of the process: “What are the frequencies? The textures? What drums are we going to use?” Orchestral elements, including strings and choirs, were incorporated via arrangements by composer Gavin Bryars, enhancing the satirical scope through added grandeur without overshadowing the core irony in Tillman's vocal delivery. Production challenges centered on balancing these lush layers with the raw, performative edge of the tracks, achieved by tracking the full ensemble in real-time to maintain dynamic interplay and ironic phrasing intact. Mixing followed recording, involving Tillman, Wilson, and Spencer, to refine vocal prominence amid the orchestral swells. One track, "Two Wildly Different Perspectives," was added on the final day, underscoring the iterative nature of the sessions.

Key Collaborators

Jonathan Wilson co-produced Pure Comedy with Josh Tillman, returning from Tillman's prior I Love You, Honeybear to oversee mixing and contribute horn arrangements on "Total Entertainment Forever" as well as performances on tracks like "Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before I Met You" and "Leaving LA". The sessions emphasized a live band aesthetic, incorporating Tillman's touring ensemble members such as bassist Elijah Thomson and guitarist , who performed on multiple tracks including "Leaving LA", to capture organic dynamics rather than overdubbed isolation. String arrangements were provided by Paul Jacob Cartwright for the title track, "Birdie", and "The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment", enhancing the album's orchestral layers with targeted chamber elements. Composer contributed string arrangements for "In Twenty Years or So", while handled strings on "Scream" and on "Pure Comedy". Tillman, as primary songwriter and co-producer, directed the overall sound, integrating these contributions to align with his while maintaining artistic autonomy from label influences.

Musical Style and Composition

Instrumentation and Arrangement

The 's instrumentation centers on as the foundational element, often driving tracks with a sparse, introspective quality that gradually incorporates , bass, and percussion. Orchestral components, including strings arranged by composers such as and , along with horns directed by James King and others, add layers of texture without overwhelming the core intimacy. Additional elements like pedal steel and , played by , appear selectively to evoke a melancholic twang, while contributions from Bryars provide subtle shimmer in quieter passages. Arrangements emphasize dynamic contrast, typically beginning with minimal and vocal setups before expanding into fuller ensembles during choruses or bridges, creating a sense of escalation that mirrors thematic breadth. For instance, the title track initiates as a simmering before swelling into a jazzy orchestral framework with horn and integrations. In "Total Entertainment Forever," the structure shifts from verse restraint to a brass-infused, upbeat propulsion in the chorus, heightening rhythmic drive through layered horns and percussion. This evolution from austerity to expansiveness maintains spatial clarity, with production by Josh Tillman and Jonathan Wilson ensuring crisp separation among elements like , strings, and drums. Such choices draw parallels to Newman's piano-centric in satirical works, prioritizing melodic directness over density to amplify ironic grandeur, though Tillman's setups remain distinctly modern in their orchestral precision and restraint.

Structural Elements

The Pure Comedy comprises 13 tracks totaling approximately 74 minutes, with an average duration of about 5.7 minutes per track, though several extend beyond six minutes—including the opener "Pure Comedy" at 6:23, "In Twenty Years or So" at 6:06, and the closer "Leaving LA" at 13:05—facilitating expansive musical forms that permit gradual unfolding of compositions without abrupt constraints. This prevalence of longer forms contrasts with shorter interstitial pieces, such as "Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know " at 4:18 and "Bedding Down" under one minute, which serve as bridges, allowing the album to alternate between concise pivots and prolonged expositions for a measured pace. The sequencing arranges tracks to transition from expansive societal-scale frameworks in early positions, exemplified by the title track's placement, to intimate individual reckonings toward the end with "Leaving LA," establishing a progression that accumulates layers of observation across the runtime without enforcing a prescriptive storyline. Empirical examination of the flow, based on track durations and recorded transitions, shows intensity peaks—marked by crescendo builds in extended pieces—aligning with shifts from to singular foci, as shorter tracks provide respites that heighten subsequent elaborations, verifiable via the 's timestamped structure.

Lyrical Content and Satire

Core Themes

The Pure Comedy posits humanity's quest for purpose as channeled through defective ideologies, including , , and mass , which serve as buffers against existential void rather than genuine resolutions. Tillman frames these pursuits as rooted in innate drives for transcendence, yet perpetually undermined by self-delusion and institutional inertia, drawing parallels to historical patterns of and that recur across eras. This causal lens highlights how such systems, while providing illusory coherence, exacerbate absurdities like dogmatic and , evidenced in Tillman's of ancient to modern without resolution. Recurring motifs extend to and media as engineered distractions, critiquing their role in perpetuating amid empirical trends such as rising and ; for instance, Tillman lampoons self-worship through consumption as a symptom of deeper societal atomization, where individuals outsource agency to commodified narratives. These elements underscore institutional failures in fostering authentic meaning, portraying media-saturated cultures as amplifiers of , including ideological that masks personal failings. While the work excels in exposing such contradictions—such as the performative in progressive or religious spheres—its emphasis on systemic risks underplaying individual agency, leaning toward a nihilistic tableau that flirts with but rarely embraces redemptive personal choice. This limitation, attributable to Tillman's broader satirical intent, privileges collective critique over granular causal accountability, though it effectively mirrors observable trends in declining personal resilience amid ideological entanglements.

Social and Personal Critiques

In "Total Entertainment Forever," the album skewers Hollywood's elitist promotion of tech-driven escapism, portraying a future where virtual reality simulations—such as endless algorithmic content and simulated celebrity encounters—replace authentic human connection, a prophecy rooted in the empirical unviability of such utopian promises amid persistent real-world dissatisfaction. The track's lyrics forecast VR's failure to deliver fulfillment, critiquing the industry's overreliance on distraction as a false salve for societal malaise, evidenced by the line envisioning perpetual digital gratification that ultimately exposes human isolation. "Leaving LA" extends this to personal narcissism, lambasting the hypocritical self-absorption of coastal liberal elites who posture moral superiority while insulating themselves from the economic and cultural realities affecting working-class , unfiltered by deference to progressive pieties. Tillman, reflecting his own disillusionment with ' performative virtue, depicts the city's denizens as detached whose coastal insularity fosters a disdain for traditional heartland values, underscoring causal disconnects between elite and lived consequences. Countering dominant secular narratives, the album validates religion's stabilizing role against nihilistic drift, drawing from Tillman's evangelical upbringing in a Pentecostal environment where provided structure amid human folly. Tracks like the title song juxtapose critiques of dogmatic excess with affirmations of transcendent meaning, positioning religious frameworks as empirical countermeasures to the void left by materialist pursuits, a perspective underrepresented in left-leaning cultural that often dismisses such traditions outright. Tillman's background informs this balance, rejecting both fundamentalist rigidity and atheistic complacency in favor of faith's capacity to impose order on existential chaos.

Release and Promotion

Announcement and Singles

Records announced Pure Comedy, the third studio album by (Josh Tillman), on January 23, 2017, setting an April 7 release date and describing it as a 75-minute exploration of human folly and societal absurdities co-produced by Tillman and . The announcement coincided with the debut of the , the title track "Pure Comedy", which featured an animated video by Matthew Daniel Siskin incorporating viral internet clips to underscore the song's critique of modern distraction and existential irony. To sustain pre-release momentum, "Total Entertainment Forever" followed as the next promotional single on March 4, 2017, premiering via a live performance on and a studio version released shortly after; its lyrics projected a dystopian vision of supplanting human connection, selected for its sharp, meme-friendly satire on technology's cultural dominance. Initial streaming data showed the track gaining traction, with early coverage in outlets like Under the Radar noting its prescient bite amid rising debates on digital media's societal impact. This rollout strategy emphasized thematic previews, prioritizing songs with hook-laden critiques to generate buzz without revealing full album structure.

World Tour

The Pure Comedy World Tour commenced in April 2017 with initial North American dates, including performances in on April 12 at Humphrey's Half Moon Inn and Indio on April 14 at the , followed by theater residencies such as two nights at Toronto's on May 5 and 6, Brooklyn's Kings Theatre on May 10, and on May 15. A subsequent fall leg expanded internationally, beginning September 13 at Boston's Blue Hills Pavilion and concluding November 20 at Lisbon's Coliseu dos Recreios, encompassing alongside additional U.S. and Canadian stops. The tour extended into early 2018, incorporating over 90 documented shows across these phases, with setlists drawn from verified data. Live renditions emphasized material from Pure Comedy, with the album's tracks dominating performances: "Ballad of the Dying Man" and "Total Entertainment Forever" each appearing in 92 shows, "Pure Comedy" in 90, and "Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution" in 86, outpacing many prior hits like "I Love You, Honeybear" (89 plays). This heavy reliance on the record's extended compositions—such as the title track's nearly seven-minute expanse of orchestral swells and acerbic social commentary—served as an empirical assessment of the material's live viability, adapting studio arrangements for theatrical staging with amplified satire and minimal cuts to lyrical density. Earlier songs from Fear Fun and I Love You, Honeybear provided interludes, but the core sequence tested audience tolerance for the album's protracted critiques of modernity, often unfolding without high-energy pivots typical of mainstream tours. Audience responses varied, with some reports highlighting disengagement during the introspective, verbose segments; attendees at certain venues conversed audibly over performances, contrasting with the material's demand for sustained attention amid its philosophical heft. Other accounts noted enthusiastic capacity crowds at outdoor sites like Minneapolis's Surly Festival Field, where the set closer elicited strong reactions despite the tour's cerebral lean. This mixed reception underscored challenges in translating the album's endurance-testing structure to live contexts, where lengthy, narrative-driven pieces risked alienating portions of the crowd accustomed to concise pop formats. The tour's economics aligned with Pure Comedy's niche positioning, booking mid-sized theaters and amphitheaters—such as the 3,600-capacity and 6,000-seat Greek Theatre in —rather than arenas, yielding sold-out or near-capacity attendance reflective of a dedicated indie following amid dominant pop acts' stadium-scale draws. No public gross figures were disclosed, but venue selections and consistent bookings indicated sustainable revenue from core supporters, prioritizing artistic fidelity over mass commercialization.

Accompanying Media

The primary accompanying media for Pure Comedy is a 25-minute black-and-white short film titled Pure Comedy, released on January 24, 2017, directed by Grant James in collaboration with Josh Tillman (Father John Misty). Compiled from over 80 hours of footage, the film documents the live tracking sessions for the album at United Recording Studios in Los Angeles, interspersing performance clips with surreal, quasi-narrative sequences depicting Tillman amid apocalyptic imagery, such as the city burning, to evoke the record's themes of existential despair and societal collapse. Complementing the title track, an official directed by Matthew Daniel Siskin premiered on January 23, 2017, utilizing minimalist aesthetics through animated illustrations by Ed Steed and montages of found footage featuring crowds, political figures including , , and , alongside everyday absurdities to underscore the song's on human folly and media saturation. This visual approach amplifies the album's core messages by externalizing internal critiques of and entertainment, though the abstract style risks diluting narrative clarity in favor of evocative fragmentation. Additional promotional videos, such as those for "Total Entertainment Forever" and "Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before I Met You," extend these motifs with similarly stylized depictions, but the and title-track video stand as the most direct extensions, released prior to the album's April 7, 2017, launch to build thematic immersion without relying on conventional structures.

Reception

Critical Reviews

Pure Comedy received generally positive reviews from music critics, earning an aggregate score of 84 out of 100 on based on 35 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim." awarded it 7.8 out of 10, commending its exploration of irony in , , and , describing as a "consummate entertainer" who delivers a "grueling " through societal absurdities. praised the album as a "stunning LP" for blending "brutal humor" with classic melodies in its neo-folk style, highlighting tracks that satirize modern life and personal failings. Critics also noted pretentious elements and an overarching , with The Atlantic dismissing much of the record as a "tedious brochure for ," though acknowledging occasional "flirtations with grace" in its musical execution. Some reviewers, including those in Uncut, appreciated the "righteous torrent" of addressing godlessness, , and over 75 minutes, rating it 8 out of 10 for its emotional and verbal intensity. However, outlets like Is in the TV critiqued its slick production as "utterly empty at its core" despite some tuneful moments, viewing the extended social commentary as lacking substance. The album's reception showed polarization, with high critic consensus contrasting divided fan responses; while professional reviewers lauded its ambitious on , politics, and technology, some audiences found the unrelenting cynicism and absence of upbeat variety self-indulgent and monotonous. Right-leaning perspectives, less prominent in mainstream coverage, valued its deconstructions of progressive cultural norms and institutional pieties, interpreting the irony as a welcome skewering of ideological complacency often insulated in left-dominated media. In contrast, left-leaning critics occasionally framed the pervasive as excessively jaundiced, prioritizing detachment over constructive insight amid the album's broad indictments of human folly. This divide underscores systemic biases in cultural institutions, where acclaim for ironic detachment aligns with prevailing progressive sensibilities, potentially undervaluing critiques that challenge those very foundations.

Accolades and Recognitions

Pure Comedy earned two nominations at the on January 28, 2018: Best Alternative Music for the standard edition, which lost to The War on Drugs' A Deeper Understanding, and Best Recording Package for the deluxe edition. The packaging win, awarded to art director Jason Kisner and others, recognized design elements rather than musical content. This limited success in major categories underscores a pattern in industry accolades where satirical or critically pointed works receive peripheral honors amid broader hype, potentially reflecting selectors' preferences for less disruptive narratives over substantive critique. No other prominent awards or nominations were secured for the album, with empirical data showing sparse formal recognitions relative to its promotional visibility and discourse generation.
AwardCategoryResultYear
Best Alternative Music AlbumNominated2018
Best Recording Package (Pure Comedy Deluxe Edition)Won2018

Commercial Performance

Pure Comedy debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 35,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, of which 33,000 were traditional album sales. This marked Father John Misty's highest chart position to date and topped the Top Rock Albums chart. In the , the album entered the Official Albums Chart at number 8. The album has not received any RIAA certifications, indicating sales below the 500,000-unit threshold for status. Physical sales remained modest post-debut, aligning with the album's niche appeal in indie and alternative markets rather than broader pop consumption. Streaming contributed to sustained visibility, with the title track "Pure Comedy" accumulating over 16 million plays on as of October 2025, alongside strong plays for tracks like "Total Entertainment Forever" exceeding 20 million. This long-tail digital performance contrasted with limited initial physical momentum, underscoring a market reception more aligned with than mass commercial breakthrough amid 2017's dominance by high-streaming pop releases.

Track Listing and Credits

Standard Track Listing

The standard edition of Pure Comedy, released by Sub Pop Records on April 7, 2017, contains 13 tracks with a total runtime of approximately 74 minutes.
No.TitleLength
1"Pure Comedy"6:23
2"Total Entertainment Forever"2:53
3"Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution"4:18
4"Ballad of the Dying Man"4:50
5"Birdie"2:59
6"Be a Body (Yoo Hoo)"4:17
7"In Twenty Years or So"5:59
8"God Is Calling a Meeting"1:00
9"Scream Team"1:31
10"So I'm Growing Old on Magic Mountain"4:19
11"The Memo"1:26
12"A Bigger Paper Bag"1:21
13"When You're Smiling and Astride Me"5:56

Personnel

  • Josh Tillman (as Father John Misty) – vocals, co-producer, mixing.
  • Jonathan Wilson – co-producer, instruments (including on multiple tracks), horn arrangements, mixing.
  • Trevor Spencer – engineering, mixing.
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering.
  • Daniel Bailey – performer (on select tracks).
  • Gavin Bryars – horn arrangements, string arrangements, vibraphone.
  • Paul Jacob Cartwright – string arrangements.
  • James King – horn arrangements.
  • Tom Lea – string arrangements.
  • Greg Leisz – pedal steel guitar, lap steel guitar.
  • Kelsey Lu – cello.
  • Nico Muhly – string arrangements.
  • Chavonne Stewart – additional vocals.
  • Elijah Thomson – performer (on select tracks).

Chart Performance

Weekly Charts

"Pure Comedy" debuted on multiple international album charts in the weeks following its April 7, 2017 release, with peaks reflecting initial sales and streaming performance. , the album entered the at number 10 for the chart dated April 22, 2017. It simultaneously topped the Top Rock Albums, Alternative Albums, and Americana/Folk Albums charts for the week ending April 29, 2017. Internationally, the album charted as follows:
ChartPeak PositionWeeks on ChartEntry Week (2017)
(ARIA)14216
(Ö3 Austria Top 40)58116
(Ultratop Flanders)25315
(Tracklisten)32116
(SNEP)121115
(IRMA)7215
(Album Top 100)16215
(RMNZ)37116
(AFP)10115
(PROMUSICAE)36215
(Sverigetopplistan)18115
(Schweizer Hitparade)32215
(OCC)82 (additional weeks reported elsewhere)16
Data aggregated from official national chart sources.

Year-End Charts

Pure Comedy demonstrated modest sustained commercial performance in year-end aggregates, reflecting its niche appeal within alternative and folk genres rather than broad mainstream endurance. Despite debuting at number one on Billboard's Alternative Albums with 35,000 album-equivalent units (including 33,000 pure ), the album did not secure a position in prominent year-end rankings such as Billboard's Top Alternative Albums, where cumulative and points favored releases with longer runs like Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. and Lorde's . This absence underscores a post-debut fade, consistent with Tillman's indie-oriented catalog, which prioritizes critical resonance over prolonged dominance. In comparison to Tillman's prior album (2015), which launched with 28,000 pure sales but similarly lacked year-end chart prominence, Pure Comedy showed incremental growth in initial uptake— a 18% increase in first-week pure sales—yet mirrored its predecessor's limited in sales-driven aggregates. Global metrics, such as IFPI's year-end reports, yielded no notable placements, further evidencing restrained international endurance amid a year dominated by pop and hip-hop juggernauts.

References

  1. https://bellaunion.com/products/father-john-misty-pure-comedy
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzLt-11Glzg
  3. https://www.treblezine.com/33649-father-john-misty-new-album-pure-comedy/
  4. https://fatherjohnmisty.bandcamp.com/album/pure-comedy
  5. https://www.billboard.com/pro/father-john-misty-pure-comedy-rock-album-charts-number-one/
  6. https://grammy.com/artists/father-john-misty/188156
  7. https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/10041-here-is-the-scandalous-father-john-misty-interview-youve-been-waiting-for/
  8. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/30/father-john-misty-josh-tillman-pure-comedy-interview
  9. https://dailyemerald.com/71520/arts-culture/triple-take-father-john-mistys-pure-comedy-is-far-from-funny/
  10. https://beardedgentlemenmusic.com/2017/03/20/father-john-misty-pure-comedy-sucks/
  11. https://pitchfork.com/news/71106-here-is-father-john-mistys-incredibly-long-incredibly-awesome-explanation-of-what-his-new-album-is-about/
  12. https://www.reddit.com/r/indieheads/comments/7jtlfn/album_of_the_year_2017_27_father_john_misty_pure/
  13. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/26/father-john-mistys-quest-to-explain-himself
  14. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/arts/music/father-john-misty-pure-comedy-interview.html
  15. https://www.subpop.com/releases/father_john_misty/pure_comedy
  16. https://www.stereogum.com/1938850/inside-the-making-of-pure-comedy-with-jonathan-wilson-father-john-mistys-secret-weapon/news/
  17. https://www.subpop.com/news/2017/01/24/father_john_misty_shares_title_track_and_short_film_from_his_highly_anticipated_new_album_pure_comedy_out_april_7
  18. https://genius.com/albums/Father-john-misty/Pure-comedy
  19. https://www.discogs.com/release/10089067-Father-John-Misty-Pure-Comedy
  20. https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/father-john-misty/pure-comedy/
  21. https://gloriousnoise.com/2017/father-john-misty-video-pure-comedy
  22. https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2017/04/07/522986307/the-mad-genius-of-father-john-misty
  23. https://chorus.fm/reviews/father-john-misty-pure-comedy-2/
  24. https://pitchfork.com/news/70869-father-john-misty-announces-new-album-pure-comedy-shares-short-film-watch/
  25. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/hear-father-john-misty-rail-against-hypocrisy-on-pure-comedy-128280/
  26. https://www.playlikethegreats.com/father-john-misty/total-entertainment-forever
  27. https://reviewsbybitterblossom.wordpress.com/2017/05/10/father-john-misty-pure-comedy/
  28. https://music.apple.com/us/album/pure-comedy/1193788689
  29. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/09/father-john-misty-pure-comedy-review
  30. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/arts/music/father-john-misty-pure-comedy-review.html
  31. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/23013-pure-comedy/
  32. https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/father-john-misty/father-john-misty-pure-comedy-review
  33. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/04/father-john-misty-pure-comedy-review/521832/
  34. https://northerntransmissions.com/pure-comedy-by-father-john-misty/
  35. https://bittermelodies.com/2017/12/21/worth-mentioning-father-john-misty-pure-comedy/
  36. https://crescendoaudio.net/album-review
  37. https://www.npr.org/sections/world-cafe/2017/05/18/528765871/father-john-misty-on-world-cafe
  38. https://thinkchristian.net/life-as-gods-favorite-customer
  39. https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/the-problem-with-father-john-mistys-takedown-of-religion/
  40. https://genius.com/Father-john-misty-total-entertainment-forever-lyrics/q/release-date
  41. https://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/father_john_misty_shares_total_entertainment_forever_performs_it_and_pure_c
  42. https://christopher-jardines.squarespace.com/news/2017/4/5/father-john-misty-shares-2017-world-tour-dates
  43. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/father-john-misty-plots-expansive-pure-comedy-world-tour-107470/
  44. https://www.setlist.fm/stats/father-john-misty-53d07fd5.html?tour=3bd51034
  45. https://www.chattanoogatheater.com/reviews/customer-reviews/father-john-misty
  46. https://minneapolismusicblog.com/father-john-misty-surly-minneapolis-review/
  47. https://buzzbands.la/2017/10/15/photos-father-john-misty-greek-theatre/
  48. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/watch-father-john-mistys-surreal-pure-comedy-short-film-114859/
  49. https://blog.pond5.com/13763-how-director-grant-james-visualized-the-inner-world-of-father-john-misty/
  50. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6517586/
  51. https://pitchfork.com/news/70227-father-john-mistys-video-for-new-song-pure-comedy-features-trump-obama-kanye-watch/
  52. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKrSYgirAhc
  53. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbOGt8cOph4XLnW6A0IHKajAYNSmmzJN-
  54. https://www.metacritic.com/music/pure-comedy/father-john-misty
  55. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/review-father-john-misty-mixes-humor-classic-melodies-on-pure-comedy-115863/
  56. https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/father-john-misty-pure-comedy-100174/
  57. https://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2017/04/04/father-john-misty-pure-comedy-sub-pop/
  58. https://www.reddit.com/r/fatherjohnmisty/comments/63p0zi/very_negative_pure_comedy_review/
  59. https://www.grammy.com/artists/father-john-misty/188156
  60. https://variety.com/2018/music/news/father-john-misty-grammy-hilarious-speech-1202685895/
  61. https://pitchfork.com/news/father-john-misty-on-grammy-win-fuck-society/
  62. https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/26862/father-john-misty/
  63. https://kworb.net/spotify/artist/2kGBy2WHvF0VdZyqiVCkDT_songs.html
  64. https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/8/9/15937216/calvin-harris-dj-khaled-streaming
  65. https://www.allmusic.com/album/pure-comedy-mw0003015889/credits
  66. https://acharts.co/album/105713
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