Comedy Central, VH1 performer brings brand of jokes to Russell House Ballroom
How do you kick off a show in front of a packed Russell House Ballroom when you’re 20 minutes late and the crowd is starting to get restless? Well, if you’re comedian Doug Benson, the answer is simple: Whip out your smartphone and start scrolling through Twitter.
“I’ve been getting a lot of tweets from you guys about the show,” Benson said as he began reading aloud (and calling out a few) tweets from several USC students already seated in the audience. “I’ve really got to say, this university kind of seems like it has a lot of stoners. And I love that.”
Of course, Benson felt right at home in the middle of this “weed-centric” humor; it’s the type of comedy that has collected him thousands of fans over the years. And although Benson has been a part of the comedy circuit since the late 1980s, it is his more recent work on hit channels like Comedy Central and VH1, as well as his chronic marijuana-smoking documentary “Super High Me,” that has shot the funnyman to megasuccess on the comic radar.
Now the star of his own “Doug Loves Movies” and “The Benson Interruption” podcasts, Benson is still sticking to his original formula and loving every minute of it.
After a quick plug to officially rename the month of October in favor of Columbia’s favorite fowl (“If you guys aren’t calling it Gamecocktober by now, someone really needs to get on that”), Benson introduced the night’s opener, his close friend Graham Elwood.
Elwood, who has performed various sets for the troops overseas as well as a co-starring role in “The High Road with Doug Benson,” took the stage for a brief 30-minute set, gaffing on everything from how horrible the state of South Dakota is to one of the South’s greatest obsessions — sweet tea.
“I’ve got relatives in the South, and I swear, all the time it’s ‘sweet tea!’ ‘sweet tea!’” Elwood said. “You guys are like a bunch of zombies for that stuff, you really are.”
When it was finally time for Benson to take the mic, the comic launched into full-on stoner humor.
Ripping on a world of topics ranging from ultimate fighting competitions to combating Alzheimer’s disease with marijuana use (“Why forget tomorrow what you can forget today?”), Benson consistently kept his comedy fresh and clearly catered to the college audience, even dishing out rewrites for those pesky “above the influence” commercials.
Benson also possesses two talents that often seem to fail today’s modern comedians: He never fails to keep the audience engaged and he actually laughs at himself. Why? He actually does think he’s funny.
“I know I’m funny. And everyone seems to think I’m always high,” Benson joked to the crowd. “So I am. Why not just do it if it everyone’s thinking it already?”
Benson even offered audience members a chance to win some prizes for the evening, launching a screeching rubber chicken into the crowd before inviting fans to join him on the stage for “The Best Week Ever” game – a contest to see who was, well, having the best week ever.
Sure, he forgot a few of the contestants’ names, but the winner, chosen by the crowd, did receive a bag of Doug Benson swag as well as Elwood’s latest live CD.
In closing the night’s set, Benson once again did something out of form for many comics — he asked the audience which joke to use.
“I can either finish the night with a really good, squeaky-clean joke, or I can tell the dirtiest joke I’ve got,” Benson said. “I’m going to let you guys decide.”
Receiving jeers to perform both of the jokes he had on tap, Benson opted to try out a split-personality style of comedy, turning repeatedly to either side as he told both jokes at the same time. And Benson didn’t lie. One joke was dirty and one joke was clean, but they were both his style and certainly ended the night on a witty note, complete with a standing ovation.