I Do Stuff…

Daniel Tosh - kicking comedies ass!

Had a great evening in the city this past Saturday night.  Months ago I got tickets for Nancy, Jeremy and I to the Daniel Tosh show at the Warner Theatre in DC.  I have seen several show there and they are always good, definitely wont be my last.  With the show starting at 8pm we had plenty of time to find trouble before it started.

Nancy and I decided to drive up real early and head to Shelly’s Back Room for some drinks, food, and fine cigars.  It is one of the last places in the city you can smoke indoors.  I forget what the exact loop hole is that allows them to continue to smoke indoors.  Honestly I don’t care what it is, I just care there is a place where you still can still smoke.  Luckily the restaurant is only one block from the theatre entrance.  It is the perfect place to go before or after a show at the Warner or National Theatre.

When we left around a quarter to 8 I had a good buzz going, but being so close to the venue it didn’t much matter.  There was a huge line outside the theatre, I was surprised it was so long, but it moved quickly and in no time we were inside and sitting in our seats.  We were seated on the orchestra on the right side, pretty good seats if you ask me.  My only complaint is the size of the seats.  I am not a fat guy, but even I find the seats to be very narrow.  God help you if you are over weight, you will never fit into the seats.

The show started a little late, some people don’t understand that 8pm show time is the start of the show.  People were still filling into the theatre up till 8:30pm, that I just don’t get it.  There was an opening act, some guy also from Los Angeles whose name escapes me.  He was really funny and talked for about 15 minutes.  You could say it was ethnic comedy, he kept talking about poor black people.  It sounds really bad, but it was very funny.  We all were surprised by how good he was for an opening act.

When he walked off the stage, without delay or much fan fair, they introduced Daniel Tosh.  This giant of a man proceeds to swagger onto the stage.  He was really funny.  I would say his humor is sorta insult, but not all the time.  And even when he does insult people it’s not that bad, I have definitely heard worse from other comics.  For one of his jokes, I don’t even remember how it went, he ends it by saying “hot pocket.”  Nancy leaned over to me and ask “Did he just say ‘hot pocket?’”  He then talks about how he got advice from Jim Gaffigan on that joke and Jim recommended he just end it with “hot pocket”.  It totally worked.  By the end of the night my face hurt I was laughing so much.  What a fun evening.

front row center

Nancy calls me up one afternoon after getting an email from Live Nation.  The email talks about several upcoming comedians to the area, one of them Joel McHale on Friday November 7th.  It was only a week or so before the show but we decided to check for tickets.  What we got floored me, front row center.  We lucked out again for tickets, just like we did for Jim Gaffigan a few months back.

We decided to make it a full evening out of the show since it was a Friday night.  We had dinner at the Blue Water Grille in Centreville.  Neither of us had been there and it was on the way.  When we walked it the dinner side was completely empty, the bar side however was packed.  The menu was mostly seafood items, who could have guessed from the name.  I got the Mahi Mahi and it was great.  Both of us left the place stuffed and ready to loose a few pounds laughing our asses off.

We headed to DC in record time for a Friday night.  The whole drive on 66 was clear of traffic making the trip actually enjoyable.  With all that time we made there was plenty of time to walk around downtown before the show.  I was surprised by the number of shops open and the volume of people out that night.  Maybe it was being Friday night or something but I have rarely seen that much life in the city that late.  We got some coffee and did a little window shopping before getting to the Warner Theatre.

When we arrived the doors were not open and a large crowd has amassed in front of the theatre.  Luckily we found an empty park bench to sit on.  We had our assigned seats so there was no reason to stand in a line when we didn’t have to.  We both did a lot of people watching on that bench.  And let me tell you the freaks do come out at night.  Not to say I am much better, but I did check myself out in the mirror before I walked out of the house.

After what must have been 30 minutes we just cut in line and got into the venue.  It was getting close to show time and we wanted to get to our seats.  After fighting the crowd in the lobby we both felt like rock stars when the usher walked us down to the front row.  I had never been that close but what a great view of the stage.

The open act was a guy from the 98 Rock morning show in Baltimore, Mickey.  This guy actually had a day job so it jokes were a little rough around the edges.  But on the whole the guy was great.  Talked a lot about his kids, wife, and other observational comedy.  There was even a heckler, “Dick,” and he handled that guy very well.  After 20 minutes or so Joel finally came out on stage.  The crowd was warmed up and ready for some laughs.

Joel was alright.  He is the host of the Soup on E!, a show I don’t watch, so I am not that familiar with his work.  Both Nancy and Jeremy agreed that he was a funny guy and the show would be worth it.  Some of his stuff was about celebrities and current entertainment news.  He even went into the various beefs celebrities have with the show, like Tyra Banks.  I am sure it is a lot like his show, the same kind of comedy and style of joke telling.

He was funny and both of us had a great time.  I will start looking for comedy show more often after these two great experiences.  I just hope to keep scoring great seats to this venue.  I actually told Nancy that I expect to be on stage for the next show.  It is kind of hard to top front row center seats.  I guess getting tickets last minute is sometimes not that bad.