Neil Hamburger's third comedy release is a desperate affair, even for a sad sack such as America's Funnyman. Hamburger-- aka Gregg Turkington-- takes his routine to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, warming up the locals before karaoke time. Too bad nobody in the audience speaks or understands English.

It's a broad setup knocked down with Hamburger's usual patheticness. (Sample joke: "How many Spice Girls does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Well, it was five, now it's four, and I'm sure any day now it'll be down to three. Uh, huhhhh...") Early on in the show, Hamburger realizes no one in the crowd speaks English and, worse yet, his manager and right- hand man Art Huckman flees the scene in a huff. With no one left to lean on, Neil opens up about his past gigs performing at Amway conventions, his failed marriage, and a little something called "Montezuma's Revenge."

Is it funny? Not really, but that's the point. Left for Dead in Malaysia is forty minutes of flop sweats, so much so that you might feel moist after listening. As usual, the joke is on Hamburger; is there a bigger loser on the planet than this guy? Yes, but the flat routine on Left for Dead may have you thinking otherwise. Hamburger (or Turkington, to be more precise) hits the desperation nail square on the head, but Raw Hamburger and America's Funnyman both fared a lot better. I'm sure that there's going to be another Neil Hamburger album-- the stage is easily set for this loser to sink even lower-- and those who enjoyed the previous albums will enjoy Left for Dead more than the folks who don't get the joke. But there aren't really any jokes on this album, just a series of empty shells and failed observations... classic Hamburger.

-Jason Josephes