I can't handle anymore laughs this weekend.
So, this was the weekend of the comedian circuit for me. I went to see Kathy Griffin on Friday with some friends and then Mr. Bean and I went to see Jackie Martling, formally of the Howard Stern show, on Saturday. I was excited to see Kathy Griffin, not so much Jackie. But I was going into it with an open mind, as I do love Howard Stern and he did some funny things in his day. Plus I was really interested to see the distinct styles of both.
First, I love Kathy Griffin - loved her D List show, enjoy all of her specials, I LOVE HER. She combines three of my favorite things - entertainment news, gossip and laughter. Well, the theatre (which is large - about 2500 seats) was sold out. And I was in about the 20th row. Despite of the number of people there, I had a great view and honestly, I felt like she was just chatting with me like we were old girl friends shooting the shit. That's one of the things I love about her - her delivery. It's really like talking to friends. It's not the tried, true and boring, set up, delivery, laughter. It's just stories. And she relates them in an amazing way. And although she is such a tiny woman (and very skinny in spite of anything she says about herself), she really fills up a stage with her personality.
Another thing I liked and appreciated about her was, despite the fact that I've watched all of her specials, shows, etc., she repeated not a single thing in this show. Everything was new and fresh and also very current, including things that happened this past week. I was impressed by that, especially when that exact annoying thing happened when I went to see "Last Comic Standing" - I had already heard 95% of their jokes on the show - I was ticked then but definitely not now with Kathy!
The show was two hours (how on earth is she able to talk that long?) which flew and I loved it. Well worth my $40 and I will see her again. Only thing I was disappointed about was that she wasn't selling anything - I totally would have bought something.
On the other hand was Jackie Martling. Now, as I stated earlier, I wasn't looking forward to it - but I know I'm objective in my opinion b/c Mr. Bean felt the same and he was really excited about the show; and from the reactions of the audience (which I'll get into a little bit later), I know they felt the same way too.
The show was AWFUL. Not just bad, AWFUL. First off, let me say that my ticket was for me to see "Jackie the Jokeman", stated literally like that. That's not what we saw. We saw "Jackie, the guy who thinks he can sing, but can't man", "Jackie I'm part of a band man", "Jackie the awful song writer man" and even a little of "Jackie the Old guy man". I guess we did see "Jackie the Jokeman" for about 15 minutes of the two hour show, so contractually speaking, I can't sue him for not giving me some jokes; but considering I paid $30 pp for tickets to see "Jackie the Jokeman" as it was advertised, it wasn't enough for me.
And from what I can tell from the audience, this was not what they were expecting either. This show was not his normal show and we weren't warned that it wasn't going to be. My first indication that something was up was when we walked into the theater and there were instruments on stage and many microphones - UH OH, what is this all about. Then when Jackie came out, he came out with a bunch of guys with banjos, drums, guitars - country music type stuff - OH OH. And then he introduced his new band and how it would be a different show - double OH OH.
And then the songs came. Now Jackie may think he can sing, and according to him he had a band in the 1970's, but he most decidedly can't. And I thought his backup singers weren't so hot either. And Jackie wrote a lot of the songs - and they weren't good either. In fact, my Mr. Bean writes better songs when he is teasing me and singing. Maybe we should go on the road. But he kept singing, and singing, and singing, and wouldn't stop. And he was the type of person who would sing the refrain at the end of a song what seemed like a million times, making the song that so much longer and unnecessary.
And everytime someone would yell they wanted jokes, many times he waved his hand like no thanks. This reminded me of a Harry Connick Jr. concert I went to with Mr. Bean (anniversary present - we used one of his songs for our wedding dance) when he sang no standards, nothing we knew, let his back up play long interludes in the middle of a song while he left the stage, and got pissed off and yelled at people when they asked for certain songs (b/c he was playing nothing the audience knew). I didn't like that show and I didn't like this one either.
And the audience hated it too. And boy did they hate it. As the night went on, people started leaving in droves whenever he started playing another song. Other people were yelling for more jokes. Once, when he put his guitar down, people literally cheered, thinking we would get more jokes. Another time, when he said he was going to sing another song, I kid you not, there was a palpable groan from the audience you could hear FROM THE AUDIENCE AS A WHOLE. Not one person, the whole audience. People were also yelling no more songs, do more jokes, to no avail. One guy in front of us was so pissed off, he couldn't stand it. Also, when he said he and his band were finalizing a CD that was coming out in I think November, there was only a smattering of clapping. The reaction to the CD was so bad that Jackie even commented on it.
And when they were playing the last song, that again seemed to go on forever, as soon as Jackie said it was the last song, there was a mad exodus in full rush form. People could not get out of there fast enough.
So that was two hours of my life and $30 I'll never get back, and I miss them both.
So to sum up, Kathy Griffin excellent; and "F U JACKIE!"
First, I love Kathy Griffin - loved her D List show, enjoy all of her specials, I LOVE HER. She combines three of my favorite things - entertainment news, gossip and laughter. Well, the theatre (which is large - about 2500 seats) was sold out. And I was in about the 20th row. Despite of the number of people there, I had a great view and honestly, I felt like she was just chatting with me like we were old girl friends shooting the shit. That's one of the things I love about her - her delivery. It's really like talking to friends. It's not the tried, true and boring, set up, delivery, laughter. It's just stories. And she relates them in an amazing way. And although she is such a tiny woman (and very skinny in spite of anything she says about herself), she really fills up a stage with her personality.
Another thing I liked and appreciated about her was, despite the fact that I've watched all of her specials, shows, etc., she repeated not a single thing in this show. Everything was new and fresh and also very current, including things that happened this past week. I was impressed by that, especially when that exact annoying thing happened when I went to see "Last Comic Standing" - I had already heard 95% of their jokes on the show - I was ticked then but definitely not now with Kathy!
The show was two hours (how on earth is she able to talk that long?) which flew and I loved it. Well worth my $40 and I will see her again. Only thing I was disappointed about was that she wasn't selling anything - I totally would have bought something.
On the other hand was Jackie Martling. Now, as I stated earlier, I wasn't looking forward to it - but I know I'm objective in my opinion b/c Mr. Bean felt the same and he was really excited about the show; and from the reactions of the audience (which I'll get into a little bit later), I know they felt the same way too.
The show was AWFUL. Not just bad, AWFUL. First off, let me say that my ticket was for me to see "Jackie the Jokeman", stated literally like that. That's not what we saw. We saw "Jackie, the guy who thinks he can sing, but can't man", "Jackie I'm part of a band man", "Jackie the awful song writer man" and even a little of "Jackie the Old guy man". I guess we did see "Jackie the Jokeman" for about 15 minutes of the two hour show, so contractually speaking, I can't sue him for not giving me some jokes; but considering I paid $30 pp for tickets to see "Jackie the Jokeman" as it was advertised, it wasn't enough for me.
And from what I can tell from the audience, this was not what they were expecting either. This show was not his normal show and we weren't warned that it wasn't going to be. My first indication that something was up was when we walked into the theater and there were instruments on stage and many microphones - UH OH, what is this all about. Then when Jackie came out, he came out with a bunch of guys with banjos, drums, guitars - country music type stuff - OH OH. And then he introduced his new band and how it would be a different show - double OH OH.
And then the songs came. Now Jackie may think he can sing, and according to him he had a band in the 1970's, but he most decidedly can't. And I thought his backup singers weren't so hot either. And Jackie wrote a lot of the songs - and they weren't good either. In fact, my Mr. Bean writes better songs when he is teasing me and singing. Maybe we should go on the road. But he kept singing, and singing, and singing, and wouldn't stop. And he was the type of person who would sing the refrain at the end of a song what seemed like a million times, making the song that so much longer and unnecessary.
And everytime someone would yell they wanted jokes, many times he waved his hand like no thanks. This reminded me of a Harry Connick Jr. concert I went to with Mr. Bean (anniversary present - we used one of his songs for our wedding dance) when he sang no standards, nothing we knew, let his back up play long interludes in the middle of a song while he left the stage, and got pissed off and yelled at people when they asked for certain songs (b/c he was playing nothing the audience knew). I didn't like that show and I didn't like this one either.
And the audience hated it too. And boy did they hate it. As the night went on, people started leaving in droves whenever he started playing another song. Other people were yelling for more jokes. Once, when he put his guitar down, people literally cheered, thinking we would get more jokes. Another time, when he said he was going to sing another song, I kid you not, there was a palpable groan from the audience you could hear FROM THE AUDIENCE AS A WHOLE. Not one person, the whole audience. People were also yelling no more songs, do more jokes, to no avail. One guy in front of us was so pissed off, he couldn't stand it. Also, when he said he and his band were finalizing a CD that was coming out in I think November, there was only a smattering of clapping. The reaction to the CD was so bad that Jackie even commented on it.
And when they were playing the last song, that again seemed to go on forever, as soon as Jackie said it was the last song, there was a mad exodus in full rush form. People could not get out of there fast enough.
So that was two hours of my life and $30 I'll never get back, and I miss them both.
So to sum up, Kathy Griffin excellent; and "F U JACKIE!"
posted by The Bean at
10:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home