MinniHaha: Dwight York at the Joke Joint

It's a new era of bipartisanship, which means that we can all agree on a few things: The stimulus package, for instance, is definitely what this country needs -- except maybe it's the worst thing to happen to America since the band America. Al Franken as Senator is sweeter than SNL circa 1978 -- or he's worse than SNL circa 1985 to the present. At the very least we can concur that the one show absolutely guaranteed to be hilarious this week is Dwight York at the Joke Joint.

York is a local comic with an incredible slew of road gigs under his belt. He's also one of the funniest purveyors of trippy one-liners on the planet, drawing comparisons to the likes of the great Steven Wright and the maybe even greater Mitch Hedberg. But York's act is all its own, distinguished by a specific rhythm. He tosses out a quick joke, pauses for a half second, freezes on one of his endless permutations of "What-the-fuck-did-I-just-say?" facial expressions, then moves on to the next punchy line before the audience has time to catch its breath. It's like waterboarding, but with jokes. And we can all agree that's a good thing, right? Right?

Dwight York at the Joke Joint, with Miss Shannan Paul 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 10 p.m. Saturday; and 10:30 p.m. Friday. 18+. $8 Thursday, $12 Friday and Saturday. 2300 E. American Blvd. in the Ramada Inn near the Mall of America.