Week: 369 (nice)
This week’s thing: If Saturday Night Live alum is doing stand-up in DC and I don’t already have a ticket to something else, you bet your ass I’m going. Never seen Chris Red before, but really liked him and his Weekend Update features in particular on SNL, so snapped up tickets to this show right when they went on sale a while ago.
Funniness: 3/5: Lots of crowdwork. I’d say maybe 75-80%. Some of it was good, though by the time Chris came on after his two openers, a lot of the laughs were coming from comedians asking people’s names who had already been fucked with my the preceding comedian. Liked the prepared material a lot more, but there wasn’t a whole lot of it unfortunately. But there’s no doubting Chris is a funny guy.
Originality: 2/5: No particular knock on Chris Redd here… just a pretty classic approach to stand-up in a small club, in my opinion.
Bonus points:
Opener quality: +2 for host Justo and especially for opener Reg Thomas, who I think was probably ultimately funnier than the main act. And throwing in a bonus point to the DC Improv for not making us suffer through one of their usual host acts. I’ve seen them all many times and they all suck, sadly.
Handling of hecklers: +1 – lots of annoying people in the crowd, tonight each deftly handled
Engagement with me personally: +1, even though Chris mocked my dream of one day hosting a late night show. This will only drive me to grind harder and harder.
Final: 9/10