I’ve seen Louis C.K.twice previously in the past year. Both times were at what you may call… dumps: PNC Bank Arts Center and NYC’s Town Hall. OK, so Town Hall isn’t so bad, but compared to the State Theatre, I may as well have been sitting in trough urinal at a ball game. The State Theatre’s richly appointed interior decor is exactly the right accompaniment for baby diarrhea jokes and simulated masturbation.

When people review a movie, it seems like they focus on the plot and not the execution. I’m at a disadvantage reviewing comedians, since it’s impossible to put stand-up on a page and not do it a disservice. I also don’t want to spoil the beauty of an unexpected laugh if you’ve never seen either of these gentlemen before.

The opening comedian was Dan Mintz, a writer for Human Giant and Lucky Louie. Dan’s act is far removed from Louis’ delivery style. Dan calmly delivers non sequitors of alarming inappropriate comedic absurdity, i.e, rape, the holocaust, Roman Polanski, murder. And he does it with fluidity and confidence in the detached, creepy voice of a Mac Store employee / prostitute strangler. His material wasn’t predictable or formulaic at all. He’s a little like Stephen Wright. If Stephen Wright ever had jokes that were really funny and made sense.

I had heard most of Louis C. K’s set before despite billing this show as “all new material”. Still, his set is superbly polished, it seems as if he’s delivering it for the first time with passionate intensity. His material at the State Theatre focuses mainly on the events of Louis’s daily life, his kids, his impending divorce, and interacting with dumb, fat, white people at Starbucks. The kid stuff, while I can’t relate to on the same level as a parent, Louis seems to despise kids as much as I do, so I was on board pretty quickly with that agenda. I’m still wanting Louis to fly out the window and come back as a horse much like his 3 year old does.

Louis’ material that deals with language and censorship was the best of the evening. It’s so pragmatic and simple. He succinctly points out that white people have adopted using “the N word” instead of using the word “Nigger”. In a round about way, it’s a way of saying the word without saying it, but the intention is clear….”Oh, they mean nigger.” It’s the most detestable way of manipulating people into thinking they’re racially sensitive when in fact, they’re provocatively using the word nigger without having the fortitude to deal with the consequences of actually saying it.

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I have to admit when I heard Gallagher was coming to New Brunswick, I was incredibly excited. As a child of the 1970’s I vividly remember him and his sledge-o-matic my misspent youth of endless TV watching. As an adult of the 21st century and student of pop culture, I simply HAD to see the man live in person regardless if I get hit in the face with flying chunks of watermelon. Still, when given the opportunity to see HIGH ENERGY PROP COMEDY, I am all over that like Carrot Top on a syringe full of either botox or anabolic steroids.

Gallagher doesn’t use an opening act. He wanders through the crowd handing out Hershey’s miniatures and posing for photos with fans. When he gets on stage, he’s tossing out oranges within minutes and batting them back with an aluminum bat from the audience’s pitching staff. He assumes everyone knows what his act consists of (most did) and if you don’t he lets you know, “Everyone who splashes you, owes me money.” While his material is a little dated….Barney the Dinosaur, Jeffrey Dahmer, Lewinski & Clinton, maxipads with wings, his stage presences is effortlessly confident. The first stand up set was basically 45 minutes of testosterone charged red neck republican
rhetoric. You’re not going to find any biting political satire or stream of consciousness improvisation here. However, about half way through the 2 hour show, Gallagher steps out of that and starts engaging with the audience flawlessly. It’s this part of the show where he’s a master at what he does. Even more impressive, he does this by acting out
a joke with several audience members who aren’t bright enough to know that getting on stage with Gallagher is
guaranteed to make you look like a complete and total retard. The payoff of this bit is tired old hack punchline centered around a bear shitting in the woods and wiping it off on a bunny, but because of the way Gallagher uses his foils onstage, it’s really enjoyable to watch. At this point in the set Gallagher seemed to turn a little more arrogant than he previously had been, his routine gets a little more personal with the retelling of his son’s birth, but between his frustration with the audience’s energy level the meandering story, the room started to feel like a deflated balloon. Finally, as if he were approaching a duty or chore, he grabbed the sledgehammer and started to smash the shit out of
assorted concoctions as the audience ate it up, quite literally, The first five rows were covered in spam, dog food, creamed corn, and other assorted flavors of garbage juice.

And then came the watermelons. At this point about 7 audience members got in line to take their turn smashing watermelons as Gallagher coached them in the fine art of pounding shit with a blunt object. Okay, so it’s not exactly highbrow, but it was quite a show, and what I mean by “quite a show” is that it was really long. However, Gallagher’s crowd work was incredibly enjoyable to watch. He’s just so damn good at it and seems so incredibly at ease and relaxed. He’s an icon. Go see him.

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