Dobbs
05-17-2004, 06:35 AM
This review was written quickly right after getting home from the show. It's late and I'm sure I left stuff out, made some mistakes, and misspelled people's names. I wanted to post something while it was still fresh, so here goes.
The show started around 8:30pm with Bob Zmuda talking a little about Andy and then going through the VIP section of the audience and talking to people who were either famous or who knew Andy, or who met both criteria. Zmuda talked to Bud Friedman (founder of the Improv), George Shapiro (who produced a bunch of Andy's shows), Larry Karaszewski (who wrote the Man on the Moon movie), Paul Rudd (Wet Hot American Summer, Clueless, Friends, etc.), the first woman who ever wrestled Andy (don't remember her name), Jerry "The King" Lawler, Lynne Margulies (Andy's girlfriend), John Moffit (the producer of the TV show Fridays which Andy was on), Andy Dick, and Dennis Hof (the guy who runs the Bunny Ranch brothel in Nevada) who said Andy was a frequent visitor including one time when he sexed up 18(?) girls in a period of just hours - a record still unbroken to this day. Zmuda probably talked to a few other people I forgot. They told some funny and interesting stories about meeting Andy, his shows, etc. Most (maybe all) of the material had been covered previously in videos and books, but the real people were there. Most people he asked seemed to believe that Andy was really dead, though some thought he might still be out there.
Then they went to the (weak) stand up comedy segment where Rich Vos started out and did bits in between the other comedians. Then another comedian came out and he was probably the funniest (other than Bob), but I can't remember his name - and he wasn't that funny. Then Bob Odenkirk came out in a suit, went up to a podium, and basically read a short bit about how cursing is too prevalent in modern comedy - even from the first two comedians - and he said that Andy never cursed - and he goes through the bit and it gets more and more profane but he self bleeps all the curse words (I'm pretty sure I've seen him do a similar bit before?) He even used the bit to take a few jabs at Bush, and it was funny (the crowd laughed a lot), but it certainly wasn't Bob's best performance - he didn't seem that excited to be there, though that could be totally wrong. Then Zach Galifianakis came out and gave an uninspired bit that seemed like it was partially ripped off of Steven Wright, though not as good.
Then they had a short intermission and Lynne Margulies introduced this movie that she and someone (Bob Zmuda?) had made. It was supposedly the first and last time the movie would ever been shown. That's not necessarily a bad thing, unless you are a big Jim Carrey fan. The whole movie was about Jim Carrey on the set of Man on the Moon and how he basically annoyed everyone by "becoming" Andy during the shooting. I was never a huge fan of Jim as Andy or Man on the Moon, so the once-in-a-lifetime movie, which seemed to be well over an hour long, bored me. Toward the end of the movie, some people in the audience began heckling it, saying things like "Jim Carrey isn't Andy" and "Where's Andy?" and all that. Even some boos were heard, especially when the credits finally rolled on the movie.
After the movie, Tony Clifton was on stage with a pretty big horn section, keyboards, guitars, etc. I'd guess there were at least 10 people on stage in his band the Clifftones, who he claimed were all his children. He did some songs, four half naked babes came out and danced with him, around him, and around the stage. There were some costume changes, some comedy from Tony, including one bit where he took some people out of the audience and insulted them. He actually seemed to really piss off one of the VIP guests - after opening his shirt and then pouring water on his head - so much so that the guy left and made his wife leave with him. He looked pissed, but Tony just told the audience to boo him. Pretty harsh, but it was better than the movie.
Tony ended with a strange performance of Man On The Moon, the REM song. As the song was ending, he said this was only the first act of his show, and that we would all be treated to milk and cookies as Act Two. This related back to a story from earlier in the evening about Andy once loading all of the people from Carnegie Hall onto 35 buses and taking them out for milk and cookies after his stage show. So, the crowd followed Tony out of the House of Blues and across Sunset Blvd. (they had a guy on stilts with a whistle directing traffic) at 12:30 at night, and over into The Comedy Store across the street. Even the band eventually came out and walked across Sunset still playing their instruments - it was pretty bizarre.
The problem was that they seemed to only be able to take a few people at a time into The Comedy Store, so most of the crowd was stuck outside. We waited for over a half an hour and then left after seeing the band member leaving. If Andy was really coming back, why would the band leave early? Our car would have been locked in the parking garage at 2am or towed, so it was time to go anyways.
Maybe there are still people there eating milk and cookies - maybe Andy even, but we didn't see him. It was a fun night, but it would have been better without the lengthy movie, which seemed like a little bit of an insult to true Andy fans because it had more to do with Jim Carrey than Andy. There didn't seem to be any noticeable a-list celebs at the show - one of the stand up comedians pointed out that no one from Taxi even showed up. There were, however, a few porn performers at the show - we saw Ron Jeremy, and a few other possible porn faces that we couldn't put names to. Rodney Dangerfield was billed, but he didn't perform and we didn't see him at the show, which was a let down.
Looking back on the whole thing, it was an ok night hanging out with fellow Andy fans and celebrating the anniversary of his "death". Not fantastic, and boring in parts, but at least there were a few boobies and Bob Odenkirk for all of thirty seconds. Better use of a Sunday than going to church!
The show started around 8:30pm with Bob Zmuda talking a little about Andy and then going through the VIP section of the audience and talking to people who were either famous or who knew Andy, or who met both criteria. Zmuda talked to Bud Friedman (founder of the Improv), George Shapiro (who produced a bunch of Andy's shows), Larry Karaszewski (who wrote the Man on the Moon movie), Paul Rudd (Wet Hot American Summer, Clueless, Friends, etc.), the first woman who ever wrestled Andy (don't remember her name), Jerry "The King" Lawler, Lynne Margulies (Andy's girlfriend), John Moffit (the producer of the TV show Fridays which Andy was on), Andy Dick, and Dennis Hof (the guy who runs the Bunny Ranch brothel in Nevada) who said Andy was a frequent visitor including one time when he sexed up 18(?) girls in a period of just hours - a record still unbroken to this day. Zmuda probably talked to a few other people I forgot. They told some funny and interesting stories about meeting Andy, his shows, etc. Most (maybe all) of the material had been covered previously in videos and books, but the real people were there. Most people he asked seemed to believe that Andy was really dead, though some thought he might still be out there.
Then they went to the (weak) stand up comedy segment where Rich Vos started out and did bits in between the other comedians. Then another comedian came out and he was probably the funniest (other than Bob), but I can't remember his name - and he wasn't that funny. Then Bob Odenkirk came out in a suit, went up to a podium, and basically read a short bit about how cursing is too prevalent in modern comedy - even from the first two comedians - and he said that Andy never cursed - and he goes through the bit and it gets more and more profane but he self bleeps all the curse words (I'm pretty sure I've seen him do a similar bit before?) He even used the bit to take a few jabs at Bush, and it was funny (the crowd laughed a lot), but it certainly wasn't Bob's best performance - he didn't seem that excited to be there, though that could be totally wrong. Then Zach Galifianakis came out and gave an uninspired bit that seemed like it was partially ripped off of Steven Wright, though not as good.
Then they had a short intermission and Lynne Margulies introduced this movie that she and someone (Bob Zmuda?) had made. It was supposedly the first and last time the movie would ever been shown. That's not necessarily a bad thing, unless you are a big Jim Carrey fan. The whole movie was about Jim Carrey on the set of Man on the Moon and how he basically annoyed everyone by "becoming" Andy during the shooting. I was never a huge fan of Jim as Andy or Man on the Moon, so the once-in-a-lifetime movie, which seemed to be well over an hour long, bored me. Toward the end of the movie, some people in the audience began heckling it, saying things like "Jim Carrey isn't Andy" and "Where's Andy?" and all that. Even some boos were heard, especially when the credits finally rolled on the movie.
After the movie, Tony Clifton was on stage with a pretty big horn section, keyboards, guitars, etc. I'd guess there were at least 10 people on stage in his band the Clifftones, who he claimed were all his children. He did some songs, four half naked babes came out and danced with him, around him, and around the stage. There were some costume changes, some comedy from Tony, including one bit where he took some people out of the audience and insulted them. He actually seemed to really piss off one of the VIP guests - after opening his shirt and then pouring water on his head - so much so that the guy left and made his wife leave with him. He looked pissed, but Tony just told the audience to boo him. Pretty harsh, but it was better than the movie.
Tony ended with a strange performance of Man On The Moon, the REM song. As the song was ending, he said this was only the first act of his show, and that we would all be treated to milk and cookies as Act Two. This related back to a story from earlier in the evening about Andy once loading all of the people from Carnegie Hall onto 35 buses and taking them out for milk and cookies after his stage show. So, the crowd followed Tony out of the House of Blues and across Sunset Blvd. (they had a guy on stilts with a whistle directing traffic) at 12:30 at night, and over into The Comedy Store across the street. Even the band eventually came out and walked across Sunset still playing their instruments - it was pretty bizarre.
The problem was that they seemed to only be able to take a few people at a time into The Comedy Store, so most of the crowd was stuck outside. We waited for over a half an hour and then left after seeing the band member leaving. If Andy was really coming back, why would the band leave early? Our car would have been locked in the parking garage at 2am or towed, so it was time to go anyways.
Maybe there are still people there eating milk and cookies - maybe Andy even, but we didn't see him. It was a fun night, but it would have been better without the lengthy movie, which seemed like a little bit of an insult to true Andy fans because it had more to do with Jim Carrey than Andy. There didn't seem to be any noticeable a-list celebs at the show - one of the stand up comedians pointed out that no one from Taxi even showed up. There were, however, a few porn performers at the show - we saw Ron Jeremy, and a few other possible porn faces that we couldn't put names to. Rodney Dangerfield was billed, but he didn't perform and we didn't see him at the show, which was a let down.
Looking back on the whole thing, it was an ok night hanging out with fellow Andy fans and celebrating the anniversary of his "death". Not fantastic, and boring in parts, but at least there were a few boobies and Bob Odenkirk for all of thirty seconds. Better use of a Sunday than going to church!