Chris Gethard Delivered a Great Comedy Show in St. Louis

Last weekend in Saint Louis, at Helium Comedy Club, Chris Gethard did 5 shows over 3 nights. I was fortunate enough to be at the second show, 7:30pm on Friday, and he was great.

First off, his opener, who is a writer for his show, was really funny. His name escapes me right now, I believe his first name is Carmen, but he was real funny. He had a bunch of different bits that I really enjoyed and found very funny. One was him reading reviews of his standup from various publications, and stuff like that always gets me. The other one, which was my favorite, was his impressions of his step grandpa telling jokes, and his impression of his brother picking up girls. He was real funny, and it was a very good way to start the night.

Then, it was Gethard's turn.

I am a big time fan of his. I have read all of his books. I go out of my way to watch movies that he is in. I was stunned when I saw him in very bit parts on "Parks and Rec" and " The Office". His own show, "The Chris Gethard Show", is insane and genius. And his HBO special from about a year or so ago, "Career Suicide", is one of the best specials I have ever watched. So, I was obviously excited to see him do an hour on Friday.

Gethard did nor disappoint. He is a great story telling comedian. My son asked me what kind of jokes he tells, he mentioned "knock knock" jokes, but I had to tell him that he is a story telling comedian. I let him know that Gethard takes a moment from his life, even tragic moments, and he finds a way to make them funny. That was exactly what he did on Friday. He came out of the gates hot, giving his opener a hard time. From there on out, I was completely entertained by every story he told.

Some of my favorite stories he told included things like him talking about going on a trip to Orlando with his wife in February. He told the audience how they both had already done Disney World, so they wanted to find something different. He then went into a good 10-15 minute long, hilarious story about a place called Gator Land that they visited. His comparison, between Gator Land and Disney World was wonderful. The stories about the things he saw in Gator Land had me crying. My favorite part of the bit was when he said that, in the Midwest, he has to put this joke in the middle because a place filled with gators isn't that crazy to us. He then proceeded to talk about how, when he traveled on route 66 across the US, when he stopped near a gator farm in Missouri just before getting to Meramec Caverns. This story ruled because EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US in the audience understood, and knew the place he was talking about. He brought up people's plans for the apocalypse, and this was great. He made a great point, that none of us really know what to do, but all of us with glasses, we would be goners the moment our glasses broke, and he is right. He also told us that he asked his dad what he should do when the apocalypse happens, and he said, "follow the rats". That was absolutely hilarious. He talked about how messed up 16 year old dudes are. This started somber and down, but, in only a way Gethard can do, he turned it into something funny. I never thought that when he started this story that I would be cracking up by the end. His story about his parents going out to a comedy show when he was in high school, and him inviting his buddy over so they could drink beers was riotous. The whole deal of getting the beer from a pizza place, to him and his buddy, who was much bigger than him, pounding the 30 pack, to his parents getting home earlier than he expected, to the interaction between him, his friend and his dad, was picture perfect comedy. What made this joke the best though, was everything that happened with his mom when she found out he had been drinking. It was amazing. The closing story was a thing of beauty. He talked about the rough neighborhood he grew up in, and one day entering the bus, only to be pelted by ice cubes. He then told us he found out that everyone was chucking ice cubes, so he joined them. The story he then goes into, and again, this is his closer, so you know he is bringing it, is something that needs to be seen by comedy fans everywhere.

Chris Gethard is a wonderful, an tremendous standup. He has earned all the acclaim that he gets. He is an awesome crafter of jokes. He has a very special quality that is very niche to him. I highly recommend all fans of live standup go see him if he comes to your city. I know that I am very happy that I did.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His first visit to Meramec Caverns was filled with wonder and horror. He was filled with wonder by the big ass cave. His terror came about because of his jerk ass older brothers constantly telling him the cave was falling in. Good times were had by all.

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