This is a collection of jokes I told at my favorite venue on Earth, Barmageddon in Tulare, California.


"I don't even know what to say, other than listen to this as soon as possible? Matthew Amos is an artist in his craft and an overall great human. If you've never gone down the rabbit hole with him before, you're missing out. No, seriously check it out! It's not what you think!!!!!!!"

- Karmen Geffken (comedian)

"Pure magic. Makes me want to slide into a self destructive drug binge in which I leave behind a path of offended meaningless people. Thank You Matthew Amos!"

- Tony Martins (comedian)

"This is my good friend's mixtape. I have not checked it out yet, but can only imagine having witnessed the massacres that have occurred at his shows. This should come with a black label warning: 'you may never be the same after this'. In a good way....."

- Jamie Avila (comedian)

"Matthew Amos is trash & I wouldn't want him any other way. Matt is the comedy god that we didn't deserve. He's left a Matt sized hole that no one will fill. I love and miss you my yellow comedy brother."

- Cammie Syprasert (comedian)

"I first saw Amos at a very green and chaotic open mic, it was right in the belly of an uncomfortable and judgmental beast of a venue. Just a dive bar, peppered with curmudgeons way too proud of simple answers to ask big questions, and too jaded to contemplate reality. I hadn't been to very many local mics at the time, and being the life-long local that I was, just assumed this was your typical central valley turn out.

In retrospect, the early days of the Tulareous open mic were anything but typical. It was its own special kind of disaster. The rival teams, Audience vs. Performer, quickly set the stage like a battle arena for performance art. There was merit to its depravity, and nobody ever came off the stage without feeling at least a little humbled by the rejection. I've never met anyone more qualified to endure that rejection and absorb it like it was sheer power than Amos. While others were practicing their grand-slams in the batting cages of comedy, swinging for the fences with the proven techniques, hoping for perfection, and dreaming about the day they'll slide into home to claim the big shiny trophy, Matt was on his knees bunting the ball out of bounds just to fuck with you.

At this point I’ve seen every fathomable reaction a crowd will muster during his act. Laughter. Anger. Admiration. Repulsion. Attentiveness. Rejection. All of them at once sometimes, yet none of it ever affected the quality or execution of his delivery. Nothing ever slowing him down, or compromising the art.

I've witnessed him command absolute silence, and also induce a raging hysteria. I've heard him kill off the cuff as if it were an accident, and also completely die like it was what he was born to do. One time at a going away party, I watched him finish a speech by pissing from the stage directly before the feet of row one, for what seemed to be like an hour.

The point is that you never know what to expect when Amos hits the stage, because even if he does give a fuck (and I'm pretty damn sure that he doesn't), he would never let you know it. You'd be too blinded by his conviction and hypnotized by his diction to notice. As it stands now, I've seen and played a hell of a lot more mics, and have even helped run the majority of them. I've gotten to know the true potential of the area by rebuilding and reopening that same dive bar as one of my favorite venues I've ever come to know, while watching the talent just come and go.

I can truly say I am honored to have shared the time that I have with him, both on and off the stage, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next time he surprises me again. I can confidently say that I now know without the slightest bit of a doubt, exactly what I am looking for on stage, and nothing coming out of Barmageddon, or even any entertainment venue I've had the luxury to explore throughout my life, can compare to the amount of joy I've gotten from watching Amos master his own method of madness that he deems comedy. It's a method that is raw, aggressive, and unforgiving... and it never dishonors the god of art.

It's a method that mirrors dissension with zen." - Mad Samke (co-owner of Barmageddon)


Special Thanks to Matt Stahl and Mad Samke for recording and producing this album!