#1250 funny business in SLC

Last night the three of us went to see the Oddball Comedy Festival at the USANA Amphitheater. I like the venue because it's outdoors and it's really close to our house, probably not more than about 10 minutes away by car. We were excited to see the show, and it seemed like about 17,000 other people were excited, too. The place was packed!

We saw eight comedians:

Jeff Ross was the Master of Ceremonies. He is also the Roast Master General. He's the dude who did the roasts of Charlie Sheen and James Franco. He was rocking the bearded bald guy look last night. He roasted six volunteers from the audience and he did it well. So cruel and so funny.

 

This is Whitney Cummings. She had a TV show on one of the networks, but I didn't watch it. Whitney came on just as the sun was starting to set so it was shining right down onto the stage. She commented on the fact that it was weird for her to be onstage during the day. Her set was very sexually oriented. I was laughing and trying to not glance over at my son. :)

Chris Hardwick was next. I know of him from watching Talking Bad and Talking Dead, the talk shows that he hosts after Breaking Bad and Walking Dead on AMC. I think he's quite adorable and his stand-up kicks ass. He went into the audience and made jokes on the fly with the people. Very clever. He also did a very good Bane impersonation. T wants me to add that Chris Hardwick had a funny bit about El Dias. That's what he thought LDS was the first time he came to Salt Lake.

Demetri Martin came out and said some random things. It was funny, but all over the place. His schtick is that he strums a guitar and plays the harmonica and tells jokes in-between strumming the guitar. It sounds kind of weird, but it worked.

I saw Hannibal Burress on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. He was hilarious on the Tonight Show, and he was damn entertaining last night, too, starting with the outfit he was wearing. It was a jumpsuit with his face on it. My favorite part of his set was when he talked about steriods and baseball. He talked about a father and son watching Sammy Sosa hit home runs in 1998 and how the father and son would always have that happy memory. Hannibal's conclusion, "If you're against steroids, you're against family."

Then there was an intermission. I should mention that during the first set, there was a spectacular lightning storm happening to the south of us. We could see that it was raining to the south and hoping the wind wouldn't shift and bring the rain our way. It didn't; the storm moved east and didn't come north over us. 

I should also mention that Whitney, Chris and Demetri did about 15 to 20 minutes each. Hannibal had a little more time. 

That reminds me that during Hannibal's set, the breeze really picked up and he did a whole bit about enjoying the breeze and how he wished that a certain part of his body could enjoy the breeze in the same way his hands and face did. 

Intermission over and it was time to bring out the big guns!

Sarah Silverman! I've never heard her stand-up before, but of course I've heard of her. She also went out into the audience and played off a guy named Jesus who was in the front row. She was kind to him and I liked that. She talked a lot about sex in her set, too. Actually, sex was a running theme throughout the night in nearly all of the sets. Sex is funny. I liked hearing Sarah talk, but she wasn't as funny for me as I thought she would be. Don't get me wrong - she was funny, but I guess I was expecting something else. I'll have to check out her stand-up on Netflix or something. Maybe I was just getting tired.

But then Aziz Ansari came on and I laughed my ass off. My face hurt during his set from smiling so much. I like his humor and he was on last night. He was talking about how salads and veggies had to step their game up to compete with meat. He seems to want to be a vegetarian or a vegan because of the way the meat industry handles their business, but it's hard to compete with bacon. "Nobody ever says, 'Is that carrots you're chopping up in there? That smells fantastic!'"  At one point during his set, a large concrete block fell onto the stage from the ceiling. I didn't see it fall, but I did see it sitting on the stage and saw people pull the curtain aside to check it out. It seemed to freak Aziz out, as it should. He stayed far away from that part of the stage after that. The breeze was starting to pick up around that time, but I do not know what happened with that concrete block. Aziz did about 30 minutes and I wanted him to keep going. He was fantastic.

Finally it was time for Louis CK! I like everything about this guy and he did not disappoint. Right when he came out, it started to rain. It wasn't a hard rain, but it was a steady sprinkle, enough that I was pretty wet. I had a jacket that I put over my head and it wasn't too bad. It was actually worse when the rain stopped and the breeze picked up again, because then I was cold. There were two screens on the stage and one of them either blew down and was taken down because of the wind. It didn't bother me because I was looking at the one that was still up, plus we had good enough seats that I could see the performers pretty well. 

Anyway, Louis did a great job dealing with the elements and keeping us laughing. He talked a lot about his daughters and his reactions to them as they grow up. He had a bit about Mark Twain that brought down the house. I can't repeat it, but that shit was hilarious. :)

In all it was a great night, even with the weird weather. I'm really glad we had the chance to go to this show. It was the first time there had been a comedy show like that at the venue. I really hope they bring the festival back to SLC next year. We would definitely go again. It also made me want to head over to the local comedy club to catch some comics. It felt good to laugh that hard!