Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I was busy all morning and afternoon prepping for the June Foray event Tuesday evening. It's filling up but as far as I know, there are still seats left.
Then in the evening, Amber and I went with our friends Dora and Gregg Berger to see my current favorite stand-up comedian, Jim Jefferies, who was performing at the Fred Kavli Theater out in Thousand Oaks. Mr. Jefferies is very, very funny, though sometimes very, very nasty. I'm generally fine with nasty as long as it's funny and in the right place. A stage where a stand-up comic is performing is usually the right place. Among the people he was nasty to were Donald Trump (naturally), uncircumcised males, blind people, deaf people, sign language interpreters, hecklers, certain people in the front row (especially if they went out to the restroom during his performance) and — most of all — himself. It all easily passed the "funny" requirement and often veered into "hilarious." And brilliant.
About fifteen minutes into his show, I got to thinking I'd made a mistake getting tickets to see him so soon after Amber and I saw him in Las Vegas at the end of June. He was, as we'd both expected, doing a lot of the same material. But after a while, I began to hear plenty of things I hadn't heard before including much that was clearly thought of on the spot. I also realized that even when he did a bit we'd heard in Vegas, it was never exactly the same. He improvises a lot and expands on things and my respect for him went up another few notches for that. If you can see him and you can weather a lot of mean, dirty comedy, you'll have a great time. Here's his touring schedule.
I have a few complaints though, not so much about the comedian as about the venue..,
The show was supposed to start at 8 PM. At 8 PM, most of the audience was standing outside in a long, long line that stretched around the building. Everyone had to undergo a security check (wanding of the body, searching of the purses) before they could be admitted. It took forever, in part because the folks doing the wanding 'n' searching were very nice, cordial people. The one who checked me out seemed more interested in having a friendly, welcoming chat with me than in getting people inside.
As I stepped up to be searched, I told him I had a metal knee and he started asking me questions about the surgery. That might have been nice if it wasn't 8:20 and there were still at least 50-100 people waiting in line behind me to be checked and let inside — and that was only one of five lines. I made it through and then as the gent was searching Amber's purse, a lady who was waiting for her date to be cleared told me they'd arrived a good thirty minutes before showtime and were just now able to get to their seats. "But first," she said, "we both need restrooms after standing outside there for 45 minutes."
Though many who'd arrived early still had to be searched, management had started the show and the opening comedian was midway through his set as we got to our seats. So through no fault of our own, we missed a piece of the show we'd paid to see.
The gent performing was not Forrest Shaw, who opened the last two times we went to see Jim Jefferies. Who was the opening act this time? I don't have a clue since we missed the part where he was introduced and his name was never mentioned once we were inside. On the way out, I asked two ushers and neither of them had any idea…and clearly were puzzled as to why I cared. In fact, on the way in as we were being seated, another usher told us, "Don't worry. Jim Jefferies isn't on yet. You haven't missed anything."
I said, "We've missed half of the opening act" and he just shrugged like that was unimportant. As you may have gleaned from past postings here, I often feel sorry for opening acts. They work real hard and sometimes, they're as good as the guy you did come to see…but they don't, like Mr. Dangerfield, get much respect; not from audiences and often, not from the management of the place where they're performing.
To make matters a tad more annoying, the opening comic and Jefferies were apparently not told that the lethargic, inefficient security checks were the reason people were still straggling in after the show had started. Both comics insulted latecomers for their tardiness, unaware some of those "latecomers" were there 45 minutes early.
I'm not objecting to the security screenings. If they think they're necessary, fine. I'm just objecting that a show which was supposed to start at 8 PM didn't start until 8:15…and a lot of people who got there plenty early couldn't get to their seats until 8:30. And then the comedians on stage insulted them for being late. The Fred Kavli Theater has been in operation since 1994, I believe, and they have hundreds of performances a year. They oughta have this down by now and their security searches shouldn't be directed by someone who couldn't get their head past a metal detector.