Anna Matsen — a word nerd, political junkie, amateur philosopher, sushi-lover, and Nashvillian — attends as many comedy gigs as she can afford. As a grad student of English at Belmont Unversity and an English tutor at The Learning Lab, she works daily to improve her writing skills, hoping to one day write something worth a book jacket. Anna attended Jeffrey Ross‘ second show on April 25th at Zanies and sends in this review:
I was recently able to attend a Zanies gig involving Chad Riden, Lahna Turner, and Jeffrey Ross. Chad opened with a mix of his usual material (such as his accused “badass” driving skills and a drunken “Free Bird” evangelist impersonation) and improvised audience interaction about birthdays and the recent Nashville marathon. All in all, a good set.
The second opener, as mentioned above, was Lahna Turner, a comic I was seeing for the first time. Her humor was a mix of singing and spoken word, surprise and shock, and the crowd ate it up. She joked about sex, sexual racial stereotypes, and her obese husband (whom she neglected to mention is fellow-comedian Ralphie May). Her current pregnancy provided plenty of material, and was dealt with in such punctuated explicitness that men and women alike were doubled-over in laughter. She worked unusually well with the audience when they didn’t respond as vocally as she had hoped. From where I sat it was obvious the crowd loved her act, but occasionally she threw in a gibe about how she’d give us a moment to recognize her brilliant humor. There are comics I’ve seen give a similar reaction, seemingly out of self-consciousness or insecurity, and it dampens the humor that actually exists in the crowd; but her obvious (and well-justified) confidence in her comedy won her louder and louder peals of laughter every time. Two of her fun musical numbers were the “Long Schlong” song and “Kegel” (a memorable five-second, silent sing-along. … ;`D)
Jeffery Ross, that night’s headliner, is best known as a “roast master”; after seeing his act live, I must conclude that he is probably the friendliest roaster around — which is why his act works. Oh, he dishes out the witty taunts, but in a way that invites people to laugh at themselves, because his ridicule isn’t the least mean-spirited. His all-in-friendly-fun demeanor is likely why, over the course of the show, he shared the stage with eight other people — all of whom took their gibes in stride. It strikes me as a healthy compulsion when people voluntarily place themselves in the butt of a joke. It’s a sign that we can, on occasion, give up a few hangups (mainly, the hangup of taking ourselves too seriously).
The first to be invited up was a woman in a shiny, silver, so-so-short dress. She was teased/complimented for having a bouncy-when-she-laughed chest. He then suggested an audience roast. Two girls and three guys walked on stage eager to be teased. Probably the best zinger of the “roast” was his dubbing of a white boy in a white t-shirt with a chain necklace a few extra pounds “K-overfed.” An odd-faced fellow sitting alone at the corner of the stage was ridiculed at the beginning of the show and later brought up to play piano for several of Ross’s “poems.” (Is it just me, or is there always some awkward loner near the stage at Zanies shows? Maybe it’s even the same guy and I haven’t paid careful enough attention. … But I digress.) Although an obviously genuine audience member and not a plant, his comic timing playing the piano while Jeffrey Ross recited “love poetry” worked perfectly. The last person to share the stage was the first half of Evan and Jaron. To be honest, I was never a fan of their hit “Crazy For This Girl” (too much sap in that pop ballad for my taste), but it was still fun seeing Evan on stage. He plays piano well, sings well (duh), and good-naturedly took his share of teasing like everyone else.
Finally, Ross didn’t restrict himself to the audience when it came to poking fun; he also threw in a bit of self-effacing humor (particularly about being a New Jersey native). And his poem in honor of his cat was simply fun. It was a great night laughing both at and with a talented stand up act.
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