Review of Rejected Jokes

According to his resume, Ben Schwartz is a writer/actor/comedian who has his fingers in several pies, including staff writing for the third season of Robot Chicken on Adult Swim, as well as freelance writing for SNL, and Letterman.  He is also a sketch (Hot Sauce) and improv perfomer at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre.

But the freelance comedy writer’s row is a hard one to hoe, and for every fruitful joke a bushel of them are left on the vine. With archives dating back to April 2006, Ben told his jokes that didn’t make the cut on Rejected Jokes for a full year until he decided to end the video portion of the site in April 2007.  Still, that was long enough to garner critical acclaim from CNBC and various blogs, and come up with at least one rejected joke that hasn’t been rejected.

Ever wonder what Weekend Update or Letterman jokes don’t make the grade?

Freelance writer Ben Schwartz is happy to rummage through the reject pile to bring you the best of the not good enough, presented in stand-up format, sometimes with graphics! Bursting onto a stage to (canned?) applause, Ben proudly delivers two-minute samples to a dead, if not absent, audience.  The humor can be a little off-color or even slightly stale, but his ‘You’ll-love-this-one’ attitude in the face of awkward silence shows that the material doesn’t always make the man.

The site is well organized, with most recent postings prominently displayed and archived material easily accessible. The jokes mostly reflect their intended venues, hovering in the recent events/pop satire genre, but every so often (once a month, generally) a guest host, like Sam Levine, Rob Corddry, and Adult Swim’s MC Chris will add a new dimension.

One rejected man can be a little bit pathetic, but two rejects can band together and proudly flip the finger- so it goes when Ben gets a guest on his show; the energy immediately increases. Plus some of them are pretty funny guys in their own right. Best joke of all, however, is in the short film ‘Cheating’, where a king-size surprise awaits a young husband coming home from work early.