Bitch Fest
As a person who attends many shows, festivals, and events related to music, entertainment, or the like, it is expected that they never EVER start on time. The only event that starts on time is church, with a close second being the opera. Even at the movie theater when a film is supposed to start at the time printed on the stub, it does, but not after 15-20 minutes of commercials and previews.
Therefore, when an event is supposed to start at 5:15 PM, I don't expect it to start at that time. When Kumail Nanjiani played the Trocadero Theatre on Thursday, September 10th at 7:30 PM, his opening act started around 7:40 PM with Kumail probably hitting the stage closer to 8:00 PM. That was acceptable and it was a very funny show. We left towards the tail end of the Q&A portion to catch the train and arrive home at a decent time.
What annoys me is when a venue is intentionally vague so they can profit off the public. I understand that there is a cost to use the venue - the Susquehanna Bank Center - employing staff at said venue, and of course, the cost of having the ten main comics as well as the "opening act" comics. A business has to make money, but being intentionally vague feels dishonest, especially on a Sunday evening when many people have work the next day.
First off, there was no schedule released until arriving at the destination. The list of main comics could be found on the site, but not their scheduled times. I spoke to many other attendees who were also surprised by this so I knew I wasn't the only one.
Lastly, before I review the comics, I was upset that I didn't get to see Aziz Ansari perform. He went on close to his 10:20 start time, but the public transportation schedule dictated our departure. UBER/LYFT was charging premium pricing at the time so fuck them too.
The Comics
The "opening act" comics performed from 5:20 PM to sometime after 6:40 PM at the festival stage. I don't know where the festival stage was located, but since we purchased lawn seating, our priority was securing a good spot on the lawn facing the main stage. The first main comic was slated to begin at 7:10 PM.
Nikki Glaser was your typical female comic talking about relationships, marriage, and children. Some of her material related to us (my girlfriend and I) personally which that made us laugh despite it following the female comic blueprint.
Jay Pharoah is excellent at his impressions so I was looking forward to that part of his act. His Kevin Hart was perfect. He did some Eddie Murphy and Louie C.K., which was funny, but then he did too much Eddie and started to sing a song from "Coming to America". At that point I took a bathroom break and I don't remember much else. I think he sang something else, but I don't recall.
Michael Che, of SNL Weekend Update, was Michael Che. He did his set, leaned on the mic stand, and finished. I think I remember laughing, but I don't know if his lack of charisma is just his act or how he is all the time.
Anthony Jeselnik is my favorite comedian right now, yet sadly, while I did enjoy his set, I felt it was made up of material I have already heard before from his 2014 tour, mixed with some jokes from the most recent season of Last Comic Standing. His ending Grandma joke was one I definitely heard before, one which I forgot the punch line, so it was a mixed bag that made me feel that, while he has a strong presence, he probably has newer material that he decided not to showcase at this event.
Bridget Everett was the highlight of the night. She didn't tell conventional jokes nor did she do a conventional stand-up routine. She mostly sang which I normally don't find funny, but her simple crowd work with her unexpected act had me laughing the most and hardest I had all evening compared to the comics that appeared before and (spoiler alert) after her.
There was a short break between the first five comics and the last five comics, which was a nice reprieve.
Nick Kroll was the first to begin after the break. I enjoy his character on The League, but his characters in the Nick Kroll show are all the same and are all not funny. Thankfully, his set did not disappoint, but I did start to lose interest. While he was entertaining, the energy that Bridget displayed was gone and it just felt all down hill from there.
Dave Attell, while a comedian I quite enjoy, didn't capture the energy back either. His set was very good, but like Nick's and everyone before, save for Bridget, started to blend together. I recall a lot of poop jokes, Philadelphia/Camden jokes, Donald Trump jokes, and "there are a lot of white people" here jokes.
John Mulaney was a breath of fresh air. He did repeat a joke or two, or did variations of jokes I've heard from his Netflix special "New in Town" from 2012 which I happened to watch again recently. He's very charismatic in his anti-hero persona and his cadence reminds me of a friend of mine, so he definitely drew me in and did not disappoint.
Amy Schumer, coasting in on her success of "Trainwreck", did not impress me. As a fan of her Comedy Central show, "Inside Amy Schumer", most of her set fell flat. At this point, the energy level of the crowd seemed steady if not low, and as the temperature decreased, so did my interest in her set.
I was looking forward to Aziz, but as mentioned earlier, we missed his set. While I packed up our belongings, he started with "there are a lot of white people" here, so I shrugged my shoulders as I trudged out of the venue.
Despite the negativity and complaints, overall I was entertained. Ignoring the outrageous costs of the food and beer, the ticket price of $30 per person for lawn seating for the time spent and variety of comedians was well worth it. They all did a hell of a job. Even though public transportation was the reason for early departure, it allowed us to drink as much as we chose, and also it saved us from spending $30 on parking and battling traffic.
