Sinbad
My absolute favorite showroom in Las Vegas is The Orleans Showroom. It isn’t just me, loads of people love that little spot. Even Craig Ferguson refers to his love for it often on the “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.” It is the perfect size for an intimate show, and it seems to be the perfect venue for an entertainer. Last night, Sinbad performed on that stage and made me laugh for over an hour and a half.
If you’re old enough, you’ll remember Sinbad competing on “Star Search” in 1983. Oddly enough, I still remember stuff from 1983. The later 80s, not so much, yeah, um, some good times there… I think… Anyway, Sinbad was an instant hit with viewers but lost to someone else in the end. He is one of the most loved losers even today. Forget your flash in the pan reality TV show/talent search show winners and losers of today, Sinbad lives on forever in our hearts. He is just that lovable, down to earth funny, talented and well, handsome. When I post about Sinbad on twitter I get tweets back telling me about how much they love him.
Last night at The Orleans Showroom was my first time ever seeing Sinbad perform in person. I was ready for a great show. I got a great show. I have seen him on television on so many shows over the years and I think I’ve seen all of his television specials. I had an idea of what to expect.
There wasn’t a warm up act for him; he just took the stage himself after an introduction. As expected he started talking about kids, relationships and somehow managed to spend a long time on sexual harassment. That topic is a real dangerous one, but he took it to a whole new danger level, he asked people in the audience to shout out their story. I was thinking, “Ut-oh, this can’t be good…” He actually managed to make a nearly packed room laugh their guts out about the topic. A woman in the audience told him she’s an attorney and he had her do the part of the sexual harassment victim. He showed how he could cross examine her as a television attorney. It might have been that time when tears of laughter started welling up in my eyes. He took that emotionally charged, sometimes painful topic and played every side of numerous issues with it while the crowd roared with laughter. It was brilliant.
It occurred to me, while sitting there in the crowd, that when I go see a comedian in Las Vegas, I’m usually in a very white audience. I never realized that before this show. Last night it was a mixed crowd. What a difference. If you have never been in an audience with a lot of black people, you are really missing out. That type of audience has a passion that is unstoppable. The women are loud, they shout out their approval or disapproval. The entertainment goes both ways. It instantly put me back into memories of Southwestern Michigan theaters and women yelling at the movie screen telling that stupid girl who is being stalked by the killer, “Oh, don’t you open that door, girl! Don’t you open that door!” It is hysterically funny just to sit in there and take in all the entertainment – the movie and the crowd. Last night it was a perfect combination, Sinbad and Sinbad working with the crowd.
Sinbad had the house lights partially up throughout the show so he could see people and he spent a lot of the act talking to them. One woman in particular, was drunk out of her mind, shouting out stuff that didn’t even make any sense. It is a shame there wasn’t a video to capture the event for, what is bound to be, her upcoming intervention. Sinbad turned that into just another hysterically funny bit, while encouraging her husband to take a little control of her.
I really admired Sinbad’s ability to throw chaos out there with the crowd with so much interaction and manage to actually control it. That takes a hell of a lot of sharp thinking, awareness and just plain talent – and a lot of the latter. His act is 100% clean. His style is somewhere between the insult comics like Brad Garrett and Don Rickles and the relationship comics of today, but he’s never off color or truly insulting. He is sharp, quick and completely on top of the crowd at all times. His focus is more relationships between people than anything else, whether it be a president and his mistress, you and your boss, you and your children, or you and your spouse. It seems to be that interaction between us and our fellow man is where he finds our comic relief.
Sinbad tours heavily, so if you miss him tonight, catch him when he comes to your town. He is very active is on twitter and always posts schedule updates. http://twitter.com/sinbadbad
Sinbad is playing again tonight at The Orleans Showroom, 8pm.
Tickets start at $49.95.