Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Tosh.Oh My God

That's right, kids.  Last night Hubby, K and I went to see Daniel Tosh perform in Madison at the Overture Center.  It's OK to be jealous.

We had opted for the late show (10 PM on a Monday night really does feel late, trust me), which got started about 10-15 minutes late.  By theatre standards, that's actually pretty good, but K and I are impatient and by the time 10:01 had rolled around, we were ready.

Tosh's opening act was Kyle Kinane, a sort of scruffy man with a big beard and a flannel shirt (think of a lumberjack on his day off in civilization...).  Kinane opened by telling the crowd that he was going to regale us with stories of how he has "fucked up."  And while I was initially skeptical, Kinane had me laughing the whole time he was on stage, and I was wiping tears from my ears by the time he was done with his set.  From stories about being the sketchiest person in an Arizona Wal-Mart in the middle of the night to the poorly parked van with a 'stuffed dude' inside, Kinane had most of the audience rolling.  His short set had us all warmed up for Mr. Tosh.

And then came the announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen, Daniel Tosh!"  The crowd roared and onto stage came a dog.  If you've ever watched Tosh.0, you'll know just what dog I'm talking about.  The little black and white mop is just as adorable in person as on the show.  He was followed by Daniel, who was holding another mop-ish dog in his arms as he shuffled onto the stage.  

Hubby, K and I all agreed later that Daniel seemed kind of pissed when he started the set.  He didn't seem like himself, and really didn't smile until probably mid-performance.  Part of this, I'm sure, was due to the loud-mouth bitch in the balcony who kept shouting things during lulls like, "Take your shirt off!"  Daniel pointed out that he knew she was trying to be cute, but that she forgot the first rule; women aren't funny.  When she continued to run at the mouth, he simply said, "Jump," eliciting applause and hollers of approval from the rest of us.

Though it took awhile for him to seemingly warm up, he was still as hilarious as always.  Crossing all his usual lines without care, he made jokes about everything from Osama bin Laden to dead relatives to "19 and Counting."  And though a few jokes were recycled from past specials, the majority of material was fresh and funny.  He told us how he hates the Packers and told us all how our cheesehead hats couldn't save us from flooding since we're all so enormous.  As Hubby pointed out, some of the jokes aimed straight at us were some of the funniest.  One of my favorites had to be when he was asking for a nearby town to make a comparison, and chose 'Ferona' (or as we in Wisconsin call it, Verona), pointing out how much funnier his joke could have been with 4 seconds of research.

I had a fantastic time last night, and seeing Tosh in person is something I can definitely check off my bucket list, but part of me was just a tiny bit disappointed.  Watching his specials, or even just listening to them, always leaves me feeling like he's an overall good guy.  Sure, he's bashing everyone he possibly can, but you don't really believe he means all of it.  But his attitude and demeanor at his performance last night didn't give me that same feeling.  So when a few people started to stand for an ovation at the end of the night (we in Wisconsin - Madison especially - have a habit of giving out standing ovations like a proud daddy handing out cigars), I just couldn't muster up the energy.  

It was good, Tosh.  Great, even.  But I really believe you can do better.  Hopefully I can see you again and have that confirmed. 

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