What the Hell Happened to Me?

Album Review

Just one of many gifted comedians to emerge from Saturday Night Live's impressive early-'90s roster, Adam Sandler nevertheless defied cynics' expectations by moving on to an improbably long and successful post-SNL film career, where he proceeded to endlessly recycle his stunted man-child persona ad nauseam — much to the delight of his captive Generation X audience. This meant that Sandler's foray into comedy albums had to take an understandable back seat to his more lucrative priorities, but then, many would argue that this wasn't his strongest suit anyway — a point driven home by his second CD, 1996's What the Hell Happened to Me? As its title suggests, the disc attempts to juxtapose Sandler's innocent childhood (driven home by the cute kiddy pictures strewn across the sleeve) with his severely twisted adult persona. Spoken word bits like "Joining the Cult," "The Goat," "The Hypnotist," and "Memory Lane" (performed with the help of various guest pals and fellow comedians) combine banal notions like Monday Night Football, talking goats, and road trips with generous doses of scatological language, unconventional sex, and uncontrollable flatulence — the usual. These are interspersed with seven examples of Sandler's usually reliable musical numbers, but the side-splitting reggae of "Ode to My Car" and the live-in-concert crowd-pleaser "The Chanukah Song" offer two truly distinctive winners.