Raunchy humor and bad behavior get tiresome
WORCESTER -- Shock jocks Opie & Anthony have some work to do before their Traveling Virus tour lives up to its billing as ``The Comedy Event of 2006." Saturday's show at the DCU Center featured an impressive list of comedians -- Bob Saget , Tracy Morgan , and Ralphie May -- and O&A show regulars Jim Norton , Patrice Oneal , and others. But the show is a little rough around the edges.
The exhibits in ``Opie & Anthony's Village" and the stage set had the homemade look of a demented homecoming carnival. It's hard to be titillated by a woman dancing around a freestanding pole that looks as if it could tip over and send her flying into the front row, though judging from the catcalls as the audience filed in, safety wasn't a distraction.
True to the spirit of the radio show, most of the comics emphasized fun and filth with varying degrees of success. With Rich Vos hosting the first half of the show, Roxbury native Oneal set the pace for the night with a litany of the most outrageous sexual practices he could think of. It seemed there was some sort of backstage bet between several of the comedians to see who could come up with the most disgusting descriptions, and one particular joke was repeated almost verbatim by Oneal , Norton, and Morgan.
Canton native Bill Burr had the strongest set of the night. Robert Kelly , another Boston native, drew several people to their feet before he could even get to the microphone, and the show reached its comic peak with Saget, who did his best to tarnish any clean corner of his ``Full House" and ``America's Funniest Home Videos" legacy.
But Opie & Anthony's introduction felt a bit anti-climactic, especially coming just before intermission with a fairly dull coronation of ``Miss Virus."
Anthony Cumia kicked off the second half, and the audience, now into their third hour of comedy, seemed to tire a bit by the end of May's set. Crowd favorite Norton got things moving again; a rambling Morgan closed the show trying to out-creep Norton, a losing proposition. Apparently, even O&A fans have limits.
