Sick comedy infects Philadelphia

By Olivia Biagi
Collegian Editor
September 19, 2007

The infamous shock jocks of XM Radio and 94 WYSP concluded this year’s comedy tour, “The Opie & Anthony Traveling Virus,” at The Tweeter Center in Camden, N.J. Sept. 15. Outside the pavilion before the show, attendees crowded around an insulting clown at the “Drown the Clown” dunk tank, women’s Popsicle eating contest and the strippers of Club Risqué who danced onstage. These attractions truly set the tone for the tasteless, disgusting and very entertaining comedy of the night, none of which are clean enough to ever be repeated.

Rich Vos, MC of the first half of the evening, opened the show, insulting nearly everyone who sat in the front row. Radio contest winner and local comic Mayo was first up. Surprisingly, the rookie made it through his entire set, facing only a couple boos toward the end, fairing much better than comic Bill Burr did at last year’s Camden stop.

The comic-ventriloquist dummy pair of Otto and George was second up. A definite step up from Mayo, but nowhere near as funny as the comics later on. Bob Kelly came out next with a stream of dirty words pouring from his mouth, leaving the Philadelphia and Jersey crowd satisfied.

Finally, Bob Saget hit the stage in all his ADHD glory to end the first half of the show. The man was all over the place, dropping the f-bomb about every other second. He would start one bit, move to the next, reference the first one again, while taking a shot at someone in the audience. His quick pace wasn’t too much to keep up with, and instead made it all the funnier.

Saget finally closed his set with “Danny Tanner Was Not Gay,” his musical defense of his Full House days, set to the tune of Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way.” “Tell me why/They lived in San Francisco/Tell me why/They went through lots of Crisco/Tell me why/I never slept with Dave Coulier/But Kimmy Gibbler got it this way.”

A brief intermission followed Saget and the Club Risqué dancers hit the stage again. While I could have done without that, it was entertaining to watch the desperate, drunk males crowd around, drool and take pictures on their cell phones. One crazy person ran on the stage, but security removed him just before he got to the microphone.

Once the break was over, Opie and Anthony were up. They started in the back of the pavilion, between the seats and the lawn area, convincing girls to flash everyone. Then they walked through the audience and up to the stage, commenting on how terrified every comic on tour was to do the “Philly show” (even though it was in Camden). At this point, another crazy person managed to get on stage, and was forcibly removed by security, while Anthony yelled “Aw, c’mon, he just wants to say hi.” The duo cracked on Bill Burr’s performance from last year before introducing the next comic, Louis CK.

Louis CK kept the show going strong, discussing why 22-year-old females are girls and not women, and how drastically different a Women Gone Wild would be, if it existed.

Opie and Anthony came back out with Tom from their bit “‘Is Tom Still Alive?’ Friday,” a man who was told six years ago that he only has seven years left to live and now calls in to the Opie and Anthony Show every Friday. The crowd actually booed when Tom came out. Yes, the crowd booed a dying man, but cheered after the video of Pat Duffy brushing his teeth with dog poop. As Opie put it, “Only in Philly!”

Stephen Lynch entertained everyone with his classic song about his very special friend, Ed. “Ed was kind with good intent/But just a little different/Oh, special Ed/His momma dropped him on his head/Now he’s not so bright/Instead he’s a little bit special.”

After bowing out with “The Dirty Sanchez,” Lynch was followed by Jim Norton of the Opie and Anthony Show, who ended the night well. While I can’t exactly repeat anything Norton said, take my word for it that if you enjoy crude and offensive humor, his set was a hit.

Judging by the simple fact that no one was booed off stage at this year’s show, the finale of “The Opie and Anthony Traveling Virus Tour” was an entertaining spectacle of some of the most vulgar and obnoxious men in America.

biagio1@lasalle.edu