i just got a chance to see
neil hamburger tonight, opening up for
trans am. i must say i enjoyed it quite a bit, although i seemed to be one of the only ones who "got it"
to add to pziemba's description, his act seems to be that of a bad 70's comedian, ill-fitting rumpled suit, a wilted flower pinned to it, stringy greasy hair laying flat on his head, out-of-style glasses, he repeatedly coughed and cleared his throat into the microphone just to annoy the crowd. a rimshot would have been appropriate afer every joke.
some of my favorites:
- why are m&m's filled with chocolate?
because it would be illegal to fill them with shit!
- why did kfc change its name from kentucky fried chicken?
because they were embarrassed by kentucky's low SAT scores
- why did the chicken cross the road?
to take pictures of princess di dead in her car
- any blink 182 fans here tonight?
jeers and boos from crowd
(with complete deadpan seriousness): really? well you look like a blink 182 kind of crowd.
if you'd ever seen the crowd at any post-rock show you'd understand
- after losing his place while ostricizing some hecklers:
where was i? was this the religous part of the set or the humorous part of the set? oh that's right, it's the religous part.
he then goes on to tell a jesus joke that i won't even dare repeat lest i be cursed or nuked
- after pausing a while, looks at a piece of paper he has with him:
no, that one's not funny.
i get the feeling this is losing a lot in my telling, you just have to experience his delivery to get the full effect. do yourself a favor, if you ever have the chance, go see neil hamburger