You didn’t think I’d forget the guys, did you? I recently wrote a recap about my favorite standup acts by female comedians I saw at Dallas Comedy Festival (DCF) during the last weekend of March. If you haven’t read that recap, I recommend you check that out first before continuing with this recap.
I was able to attend DCF the last three nights of the event, and I compiled my top three favorite standup acts by male comedians, from the shows I was able to attend as press.
Wes Corwin was the first comedian I saw perform at DCF on March 29, and he was a great opener for the night. He started off making fun of his appearance: “You look like Shaggy… If they had to put Shaggy down…” Cue the awww and LOLs. I think I ROFL’d. He segues into explaining how he sees laughter from an audience as sympathetic. It’s the laughter, rather, not the awwws that he enjoys the most from his shows. My favorite standup bit was when Corwin recalled the time he performed a show at a strip club in Euless, TX. There were a total of five audience members and apparently two of those people were getting lap dances. Making eye contact was awkward.
I actually caught both of Rob Christensen’s shows. I caught his Thursday night show on accident, as I had arrived late from walking down Main Street in between showings; and I also caught his Friday night show, which I was able to see the entirety of. So this recap combines both nights’ shows. The thing that stuck out to me about Christensen was his composure–he’s got such a serious, semi-angry face when he does standup and his sarcastic jokes are out of this world. Christensen joked about turning 37 soon and says he’s “halfway there” and that he should “try to smile more.”
At one point during his Thursday show, he intertwined his fingers so that his hands looked like they made an “X,” and commented, “Statistically-speaking, eight percent of the audience is sexually aroused by what I’m doing.” And whether your sex fetish is finger or feet stuff, “keep it to yourself.”
Also, Christensen is a Ben Affleck-apologist. Ben Affleck is his favorite Batman, so don’t you say shit about Ben Affleck!
When Tom Devenport ascended to the Regal Room stage, I honestly thought he could’ve been Jaqen H’ghar‘s older brother or something. If you’re a Game of Thrones fan like me, you’ll get it. Devenport didn’t make this reference but he did poke fun at how he was definitely aware that he was bulky and muscular and looked like a cop. He goes on explain how he used to live in San Francisco and while it was great for hikes and had great avocados, it smelled. As someone who’s only visited San Francisco twice, I must have gotten lucky that I skipped out on the smelly parts of town?
Anyways, Devenport also recounts a story to tell an important lesson: He had to go to the doctor to get an MRI scan. And of course, predictably, the poor man gets stuck! He blamed the MRI assistant–as he should–for not noticing that he, being a muscular man, would not fit into the MRI scanning tunnel. The lesson here? “See something, say something!” You never know when you can save a man from being stuck in a claustrophobic space!
Featured image credit: ChinLin Pan/Geek Gals
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