Ron Shock is without a doubt the very best story telling stand-up comedian around. Telling a story, with a plot, character development, and so on is a waning art in stand-up comedy. Fortunately, Ron Shock is keeping that tradition alive on American Storyteller, his latest independent comedy CD. Recorded in Louisville, Kentucky, American Storyteller is Ron Shock at his best.

Although American Storyteller reprises Biker's Titty Bar from the CD Oral Roberts, 900' Jesus & Other Tall Tales (an excellent comedy CD) and Ron Shock fans will recognize a few other setups and jokes here and there -like the non-smoking lady at the L.A. airport), this is still a solid release by independent stand-up comic Ron Shock.

The Pursuit of Happiness is basically a funny series of jokes about enjoying life while we are still alive and not worrying too much about the consequences of tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. This may sound slightly banal but the talent Ron Shock has for exploring the semantics of drugs and alcohol make for very funny stand-up comedy.

Track 4 of American Storyteller, My Personal Fitness Guru, segues beautifully from the material on tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. Again, Ron Shock encourages his audience to enjoy life while they are living it as we are all going to die anyway: "Get stoned, f** a stranger, eat a Twinkie."