Comedy: Jerry Seinfeld With Mark Schiff

Photo from Wikipedia By David Shankbone

Last night I went to see Jerry Seinfeld at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Omaha.  Seinfeld had come through Omaha a few years ago and I'd not taken the time to see him then so when I saw he was coming back, and I was back in Omaha, I bought a ticket (The Wife was not interested in going).

I had a pretty good seat though there really aren't any bad seats in the Orpheum.  Once again I should have had a camera with me since there was very little security and no metal detectors so bringing a camera in wouldn't have been an issue.  From my seat, I would have gotten great pictures.

The show started fairly promptly with the warm-up comedian Mark Schiff.  It took me a while to warm up to him but I did start smiling by the time his twenty-minute set was over - I'm pretty tough to impress when it comes to comedy.

After a short five minute transition (it may have been shorter) Seinfeld came out and for the next hour or so he went from funny to hilarious.  I really enjoyed his comedy and his delivery.  He was very folksy with the crowd and It felt like sitting around with a funny friend.  I was laughing out loud.

He was fun and I'm happy I went.

Comedy: Amy Schumer With Rachel Feinstein

I haven't been to much live comedy in my life.  I saw Yakov Smirnov way back in college, David Sedaris back in 2010, and went to a local improv show in Ventura, CA during our Route 66 trip.   So I wasn't sure what I would experience when I went to see Amy Schumer in the Centurylink Center (same venue as the Mumford & Sons concert a few days earlier).  The Wife was not with me.  Amy Schumer can be a bit risque and the Wife was worried that it would not look good for a Catholic School teacher to be seen there.

My first impression as I sat down was I was surrounded my an inordinate number of women.  Eventually I saw more men coming in so I didn't feel so out of place.

The show started a bit late with Amy Schumer's brother's avant garde jazz band.  Not a big fan (but not as bad as Mumford & Sons' warm up band).  I prefer more structure to my music.

The jazz was following by a short set from Rachel Feinstein.  She was ok.  Made me laugh a few times.  She was promoting her new special on Comedy Central.  The show is titled "Only Whores Wear Purple."  Ouch!  Two days after the death of Prince.  Talk about bad timing.

Amy came on and delivered a pretty good hour long set of raunchy humor that often made your toes curl ... in a funny way.  The laughs came at a good consistent rate.  The only thing that fell a bit flat for me was when she tried to tie in her material with Omaha/Nebraska/Iowa.  It felt she'd done her research in the big book of stereotypes.  Lots of corn and cow tipping jokes.

I enjoyed the show.  The Wife would have liked it I think.  Now to start watching the new season of Inside Amy Schumer.