This weekend was a busy one even by our standards...Friday night I caught a show (or part of one, anyway) by one of our favorite local musicians, then Saturday morning it was up bright and early for a drive down to NJ so Mrs. Dave could do a work thing. Sunday morning we had breakfast with my mother-in-law before hopping back in the car and driving home so my brother Matt and I could have a belated birthday (or Christmas?) outing.
Some major holiday ago, I had the idea of offering him a pair of tickets to a show of his choice - I think I offered Radiohead, Coldplay, Dane Cook or Brian Regan as ideas but the Radiohead show had already happened, Coldplay conflicted with something I couldn't miss, and neither Dane Cook nor Brian Regan were touring anywhere nearby at that time. So it kind of went by the wayside until Mrs. Dave got a notification that Brian Regan was coming by, and would I like to get a pair of tickets? Sure, go ahead and order them. I booked Matt for Sunday night and we were good to go.
Fast-forward a few months, I dig the tickets out, and it's only just before we head out to the show that Matt looks down and says "Hey...we're in row A." I pull up a seating chart, which is irritatingly inconclusive, but figure the rows must go AA through ZZ before they get to A. We get to the venue, and lo and behold, A is row numero uno. We're off to the right, but if this were a Blue Man Group show, we would definitely be within "poncho distance". Not that Brian's act is particularly spittly, but I can't remember the last time I had absolute front row seats to anything without anyone in front of us. Thanks Mrs. Dave!
His act, as described in the early days of vg.net, is completely clean, but side-splittingly funny. It's not just the jokes, but the timing, the facial expressions, the willingness to effectively spaz out on stage as part of the routine, and only over-the-top in the sense that it contributes to the joke. And for the most part, it was completely new material except for a couple of one- or two-minute bits. That is, until the encore.
Well, first of all, I can't say I remember a comedian being called out for an encore before. But what made this encore especially odd was that the crowd immediately started yelling out their favorite bit names - "You too!" "Snow cone!" "Spider web!" "Pop tarts!" - and not only did he actually DO them, but they may have been funnier than the rest of his routine. Now, I can see taking requests at a concert, because even if you've heard a song before, there's always somewhere a musician can take it - a little lick or solo or some improvised lyrics. But a joke is really carefully constructed for maximum impact...and here's the thing: if you've heard it, you know the punch line. It really shouldn't be as funny hearing it the second or third time around because supposedly, your funny bone gets a bit numb to being tickled the same way. So the fact that everyone was howling louder during the encore is really a testament to how his delivery and timing is nearly as funny as the joke and material itself. Basically, if you have a funny bone and a few bucks to spend, seeing Brian Regan is still money well spent - even if you've heard the routine before.
