Regretably Mandel was forgetable
by Macstrr on 2009-11-21National Arts Centre - OttawaFrom my perspective Howie had a tough crowd and handled them well. It was amazing the amount of hecklers that came out last night and felt a need to speak out. Seriously they weren't funny. He dealt with 3 or 4 that he included in his skit but I had about a half a dozen around us, with comments that they probably thought were funny; but just weren't and was disruptive to the show. My thoughts are that because Howie is a Canadian many people feel a certain affinity for him and that he's somehow their best bud so it's okay to speak out at him. Listen we are all paying a fair price to listen to his skit/monologue. Let him do his job. Anyways they had a video clip at the beginning that just replayed itself. It was a silly little thing and frankly it started to build up the audience and then neither Howie or his warm up act built on it. What gives 15-20 minutes of stupidity for....? The warm up act was ...what was his name and his material comprised of...well I forget so I guess forgetable is an appropriate rating. Howie came out and he was lively and peepy and gave a good show. I realize that part of the show is for him to set himself up for comments from the crowd/hecklers and then he switches the situation on them. This he did fabulously and to a very enthusiastic crowd. So the shows rolling along moderately well (+/-) and he throws on some clips along the line of Candid Camera and disappears from the stage. Okay so theirs some mutted giggles and we are waiting for some kind of build up on this unrelated video. Howie comes back and from my perspective does a poor Bugs Bunny immitation and tells us " Dah-dah's all folks" . So my lasting memory of the show is of a candid video clip that to my knowledge never made it on TV and of an ongoing verbal barrage between Howie and some drunken woman by the name of Kathy from across the room. Wow what fun. What was said? Well like the rest of the show it isn't worth remembering, so generally it was pretty much a forgetable evening. Howie I wish you well but until I can afford a throw away disposable income you are not on my list of stand up comics to see. It just isn't worth my time, effort and hard earned money.