Comedy from the last trip reviewed again

I saw a good bit of comedy this past trip.  Here is an overview:

Top of my list is the Riviera Comedy and not simply because there are free tickets in the American Casino Guide.  Actually, on this trip, poker buddy Wild Bill booked at the Riviera and had free tickets included with his room booking.  I wish this casino had decent VP or a poker room.  I’d stay there.  The Banana Leaf Café was another great diabetic and healthy food friendly spot, a great rare find in Vegas right there at the Riviera.  And there were even more antique pinball machines to play than last visit.

Anyway, I liked the way I was treated; the entire place was relaxed and easy, especially as compared to Sin City.

No extra charges.

No minimum drinks.

No overpriced drinks.

No hustle; no hassle.

Just a how can we help you enjoy your night out.

I only drink wine now and their merlot was twice as much as what Sin City gave and twice as good at just $6, not $9. Wild Bill also had a 2 for 1 drink coupon with his room for use during the show so for us it was $3.

 

There was more comedy here too than any of the other places.

They had three comics.  

In my book it gets top billing.  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

LA Comedy at Bally’s.

This is my second choice and interestingly is also very cheap with Groupon or Living Social.  This time it was just $12 and no extra charges or minimum drink added to the cost.

Very nice venue.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Las Vegas Live Comedy

I got into this show free. I had bought a coupon for The Mentalist and after that show they let us get the far back seats for free at this comedy.  I think I was pretty tired and perhaps two shows back to back left me a bit unreceptive. 

Nothing seemed very funny.

Next to me was a couple with young teenaged kids.   I don’t quite get bringing them, but to offer a perspective on the jokes, the boy (probably 13) curled up on a few seats and went to sleep in the middle.  So much for the shock value.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sin City

Okay, I guess I’m not giving them another chance at me on any future trip.  This is just a poor excuse for a comedy show.  There is the guy who introduces, and just one comic.  Most of the energy is spent at this theater making sure everyone has the minimum drink. 

Drinks start at $9. 

Really. 

I had a $20 groupon with a drink included and was given the worst red wine I had the entire trip served in a flimsy and small half filled plastic cup. 

On the street near Excalibur this trip a guy was passing out “free tickets” to Sin City that look like bookmarks.  Be sure to take them if you see them, and then just use them as bookmarks. 

So folks wandered into Sin City for their free ticket, and then were told that the box office fees and the minimum free drink fee meant that for this “free” show it would be $15 per person. 

Cheaper than my groupon.  Still, it reeks of the bait and switch games this theater plays and have been played on me now two years in a row.

$15 is a decent price for a night of comedy and a drink.  This was half a night of comedy and half a drink.  But just the idea of the carny like selling takes any entertainment edge off this venue for me.

Other shows that include comedy:

 

Zumanity was pretty raw, but I found it very funny. 

O slapstick with the two guys on the houseboat was funny even the second time.

Free show Toast of the Town at Sam’s Club on Thursday includes two kinds of humor.  There are the jokes the hosts make, the bantering type of humor done in the lounge acts years ago.  Most of it is off the cuff and much of it is not very funny, but tolerable.  The Rat Pack these guys just ain’t. Then they will have a comic act some weeks and I usually like that comedy. 

It is the opposite of raw. 

Some of it is clever.  Some of it is a repetition of very old material.  But often I like the comics here better than when I pay somewhere else.  Free on Thursdays at Sam’s Town at 2.  Come a bit early, the space fills quickly.  Free stuff is given a few minutes before the acts.  Swipe your B Connected card in a kiosk to print a ticket.

The Mentalist at the V told a few jokes.  His mental tricks were pretty basic.  It is not hard to read someone’s mind when you give them a card to fill out before the show where they put down all the information you will pretend to elicit.

Jeff Civillico’s juggling act was full of humor.  He had great stage presence, and a very personable way with people.  This is such an inexpensive show.  I went because it was free (with a small ticket service charge) and it was much more than I expected.  Very entertaining and a very genuine fellow.  I’ll go again.

There was one dealer at the Venetian live poker room who when he heard we had just come from a comedy act, started doing Richard Wright jokes, these dry one liners, perfect for the time it takes to deal a new hand.  He was funny.

 

As for the comedy itself.  I’m not too impressed.  We saw John Bizarre for perhaps the 12^th time and even with his material being somewhat old for us, we just enjoyed him more than some of the others.  See him if you can.  I laugh just thinking about his act. 

But much of the comedy depended on the word Fuuk spoken often and used to insure a laugh where the joke was mediocre.  I guess after teaching inner city kids for 35 years, I’m just not that entertained by Fuuck.  I’m not offended; just bored.  Sometimes it is like eating in a bad restaurant.

“Yeah, Morty, the fish is just a  little gone by….so use a spicy sauce.”

Then I am also tired of the race card.  Few of the jokes are clever.  Black comics seem obsessed with telling about white people.  Again, I’m not offended.  Just bored.

And half the rest of the jokes are about marriage and depend upon stereotypical marriage relationships (generally frustrated) to be funny.

I’m bored again.

Maybe I see too much stand up.  I keep looking for Steven  Wright, or for someone clever.

I lost the name of one comic at the LA show who was worth all the other comedy visits combined.  And most of his material could not be prepared and practiced.  He played off the audience, like Don Rickles, but without being as harsh and added in facial expression, accents, etc. so that he became a character from the audience. He’d pick up on people in the audience and make funny jokes in a quick and witty style.  In my face he saw C Everett Koop, Reagan’s surgeon general and that alone was funny if obscure to most of the audience.  Many people have pointed that resemblance out to me over the years.  Amazing that he would come out with that.  The guy died this year.

He was quick and funny and the humor was not harsh.  Nothing made us cringe.  It was not hard to be singled out. He’s make up whole stories based on how people looked.  It was amazing really. 

Okay, the joke I liked best is seasonal and fits my snowbird lifestyle. 

A guy living in Florida calls his mother in Connecticut and she urges him to come home for Christmas.

“Listen, son, in Connecticut we got snow for Christmas!  How you gonna have a real Christmas down there with no snow?”

“Ma, Jesus was not born in a snowstorm.  He spent his time walking with his friends on hot desert sand in his sandals, surrounded by Jews.  So I’m in Southern Florida; seems like true Christmas to me.”