Bob Saget
When: Sunday March 3rd
Location: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Toronto
At this stage in Bob Saget's career I feel it should go without saying that he does not work clean. In fact it's safe to say that he works dirty - very dirty. He does not get into religion or politics whatsoever and truth be told he's not overtly descriptive in his use of the "foul language"(like he was during his turn at telling the "Aristocrats" joke). However it is always present and I suspect there are no limits that Bob wouldn't be prepared to go to. So I have to admit I was a bit surprised to find a few preteens sprinkled into the audience, albeit with parental supervision but still. This show is not safe for children.
Before we got to the main attraction comedian Graham Chittenden (@grahamchit) surprised everyone by being an opening act. As someone who was really looking forward to this show I searched the internet on a regular basis on the days leading up to the show to see if there was going to be an opening act and only found out about him hours before the show. All that being said Graham knocked it out of the park. People were still filtering in as he was going through his set and I'm sure some, at first, had no intention of listening to him however when that many other people around you are laughing it becomes contagious. By the peak of his set(he's ripping on how easy HGTV makes home renovations look) he had everyone eating out of the palm of his hand. He did a very solid fifteen minutes in total and is someone I would gladly pay to see headline in a smaller venue.
After a fifteen minute intermission for the mainly male audience to go outside and smoke Bob finally took the stage at around 9pm. As much as I was looking forward to his show there was a big part of me who had some doubts. His online reviews are not always favorable and I had watched his last HBO special countless times so I was worried that I may be hearing the same thing re-hashed several years later. My doubts were put to rest very quickly.
Bob comes out and immediately starts picking out the drunks that are yelling at him and incorporates them into the show. This is unique in that it guarantees no two shows are the same. Every audience gets an inside joke that only they will get. They get a "you had to be there" moment, which is very cool thing for an entertainer to give to an audience. After about 10 - 15min of working the audience he tip toes into set material all the while calling back to the various comments and references constantly throughout the show. His material is based heavily on his own experiences in show biz with Full House being the most common topic or theme.(He even called John Stamos during the show and put him on speaker phone - the crowd ate it up) However, if Bob was simply trying to use his image as Danny Tanner for shock value the effects would wear off quickly. It's because Bob is a charming, charismatic individual he can get away with material I'm not sure others could. He works way dirtier than most and his material is not in the traditional sense, well crafted, but who cares about those things when you have 2,000 plus people laughing.
He ends the show with what is becoming his signature - his guitar. He sits down and sings a number of songs, none of which are safe for work and ends the show with the now infamous "Danny Tanner was not Gay". The crowd immediately stood up and he didn't hesitate He told us to sit back down and he played one more "off color" song.
You can be shocked by the language. You can be shocked by the image he's crafted for himself but no one should be shocked by the fact that Bob Saget is very funny.
Finally, Bob Saget telling the "Aristocrats"...NOT SAFE FOR WORK, CHILDREN OR PEOPLE WITH WEAK STOMACHS!...you were warned...
