Glory, glory hallelujah! I went and saw The Coexist? Comedy Tour that came through sunny San Francisco. Hot damn. The theme of the tour is different folks from different religions coming together to make racist comments in unity. Good times.

My friend Keith (an atheist) hosted the whole shebang and was joined by a Christian, a Jew, and a few Muslims. Now, I was expecting an Indian Hindu (he was on the bill) but he got LOST on his way to the club. Apparently, “bad Asian drivers” refers to the South West along with the South East of Asia. Go figure. So what did we get in exchange for our missing Hindu? Two more Muslims. I guess that’s the going exchange rate for one missing Indian (thanks Keith).

So obviously I like awkward and edgy humor (though I hate that term “edgy”). The Comedians Of Comedy Tour is coming to SF in December, and I have my ticket in hand. If you haven’t seen this lineup, it includes local oddity Brent Weinbach and the adorable hobbit Patton Oswalt. There will be plenty of Star Wars jokes and maybe some political comments thrown in for good measure. Maybe. For those of you who can’t make The Comedians Of Comedy live show, then check out the movie! The flick is unreal, and plays out like some kind of comedic Dirty Dozen (even though there’s 15 people). The lineup includes Dana Gould, Bob Odenkirk, and bitchy, sarcastic, yet somehow wide-eyed and innocent Sarah Silverman. Did you see her at the MTV Music Awards? It was the very definition of awkward. Apparently you can’t imply that Amy Winehouse is Jewish because she’s got a big nose without striking up a little controversy.

Where the hell was Steven Wright for the last ten years? I thought he died in a grease fire, but I guess that was just a rumor I made up. He’s back and his new stand up is as dry as ever, and means he won’t have to be remembered as the radio DJ in Reservoir Dogs.
One of my favorite comedians right now is Daniel Tosh. I caught some stand-up he did for Comedy Central and I was hooked! He’s sort of like a smart Dane Cook, except funny. I have since bought Daniel Tosh’s CD, seen him three times live, and even sat outside his window for hours at a time without him knowing it! Creepy, I know, but he won’t return my phone calls, so it’s come down to this.

On the other side of those funny folks are some dark and dreary artists that are more a depressing gimmick than actual entertainers. I’m talking of course about the blue collar comedians (Ron White, Some Other Guy, Larry The Cable Guy, and Jeff Foxworthy). Poor Jeff Foxworthy. He and his moustache couldn’t hack it saying “you know you’re a redneck if…”, so he now has to match wits with 5th graders. So sad. Some of you out there probably don’t share my tastes. A lot of you think The Blue Collar Comedy Tour was great and Larry the Cable Guy is one funny redneck. You’re probably saying “TONS of people love that stuff, so obviously there’s got to be a reason it’s popular!” Well tons of people like asparagus and pedophilia, but I can’t get behind those either.

Check out the roots of standup if you want to see what funny really is. Legends like Lenny Bruce, Robin Williams, and Paul Mooney still run comedic laps around the new kids. Well, Lenny Bruce can’t, ’cause he’s dead. Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 2:39 pm and is filed under TV, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.