Reggie Watts "A Man Behind Time," Jan. 5 at UGF

Having watched Reggie Watts perform in his home town tonight, several things jumped out at me.

One is that he still very much loves his hometown. This is apparent from the moment he started his act. That's something we as residents should take pride in. There's many famous people who, once they get a taste of it, seem to forget where they come from. Not Reggie, though.

Also, and this is quite genius -- He's developed a show where he's essentially taking you aboard his ship of experimentation and almost daring you to tumble off.

By that I mean he grabs you, the audience member, with a relatable story -- in this case it was his high school experience playing football and his complete lack of knowledge or care for the game.

Once he had us all aboard, he moved in some fun places, some awkward places, and some just plain strange places.

Lana, my girlfriend, and I both felt as if we were securely aboard at some points more than others.

My first criticism was that at one point I thought he was trying to be a little too hometown with the crowd.

It felt like he mention local places, people or things almost for the sake of mentioning them.

Granted, he could maybe get away with it because of the way he did it and the audience he was performing for, but I did think to myself at one point during the show "well, that didn't quite fit in."

I can't help but feel for the people not from Great Falls watching the show tonight. They might not have been privy to the humor going on as much as those who've lived here their whole lives.


Looking at it from another point of view, though, and I can ALMOST forgive him for overusing Great Falls references.

Mostly, because this can be a double edged sword.

Don't mention Great Falls enough and you seem to seem distant from your home. Mention Great Falls too much and you run the risk of appearing to pander to the audience. It's a delicate balance no matter what way you take it.


The times it DID work, though, were laugh-out-loud incredible. I'll have more about that in a minute.

The real beef I had tonight, though, that really yanked my chain....was that he TOTALLY slammed my home town of Butte!!!!

How dare he do that. It's totally the greatest, most awesome place on the planet. I almost walked out of the theater right then and there.

OK, not really. Butte's an awesome place, though. C'mon Reggie. You gotta get up there for St. Patrick's Day or the Montana Folk Festival. :-p

Getting back to business, I think Reggie's strengths lie in his musical ability and his way of creating something from nothing. Rinse and repeat and it's a certain kind of unique magic you don't see anywhere else right now.

I would have loved to have heard more of his fantastic accents. He's got several great ones as evidenced by his live album, "A Live at Central Park," and several of his YouTube clips.

Couple that with his ability to turn an awkward situation into something funny and it's pretty easy to see why his shows work as well as they do.

He's always a little weird, but at times, like I said earlier, it seems as if he's tempting you to follow him down his rabbit hole. And, damn, what a hole that must be!

When he was in storyteller mode, personally I would have loved to have heard more from his experiences across the globe. But, I guess that would have made it a different type of show. It was cool hearing a bit about his childhood. It all seemed very sincere.

With that, I think the highlight of the night, for me, was the way he joked about how dangerous Great Falls and Montana really are. In particular, I cracked up hard at the five (or four, as he never did mention No. 4) ways people die in Great Falls. To sum it up: Reason No. 1 - Bears. No. 2 -- Just Because. No. 3 -- getting eaten by  pterodactyls. And No. 5: Disappearing down into a vast labyrinth of subterranean caverns which crisscrosses the city, and possibly turned into Eloi.

One more note: After the show, Lana mentioned that she felt because his act is all improvised, there was no natural arc to it.

There was no beginning, middle or end. I suppose that's the risk you run when you improv from start to finish. It also gives you a sense of mystery as you're never quite sure where he's going next.

Before Reggie took the stage, four opening acts, three students and one staff member, performed. Two were musicians and two were comedians.

The openers each had unique personalities and their own unique problems. Without sounding too harsh, opening for a nationally recognized comedian is very intimidating and the fact that they pulled it off the way they did is to be commended.

Clay's (Clayton Vermulm) act is coming along nicely, and it's cool to see him start to get more comfortable on stage.

If he can start to refine his material a little -- it seemed like he jumped around a bit -- he will only continue to get better.

I liked his use of physical humor in which he imitated a turkey drowning in the rain. That was a new wrinkle since the last time I saw him perform. (Which admittedly was a while ago.) It was brief, but it seemed to get a strong reaction.

Clay, to me, feels like he's at a point where he's experimenting with different things and finding out what works best for him. I think he's starting to turn the corner and discover those strengths, but it takes some bumps and bruises along the way. He's getting there and it's fun to watch.

Kenneth Taylor showed me a new side I have never seen before tonight. Granted, we only worked together in "Chicago," and I had never seen much of his original material. But, wow.

 If there was an award given to the most offensive material of the night, he would have won easily. And, I say that with all sincerity. It was hilarious. And, incredibly offensive. Funny how that works.
He sang a song about a meth junkie in Cut Bank and about his sister and her PS blues. (PS stands for words that rhyme with horn car.)
He's very comfortable on stage, and while I didn't mind the offensive material, he might run the risk of turning off people who do. I think it worked tonight. Others might disagree, but there was quite a large applause after he finished.

Sawyer Edmister might have been the least-polished of the openers.
I'm not saying he bombed, because he didn't. I see his act and see the amazing potential it has to really become a force to be reckoned with. I laughed several times, it just didn't entirely work yet.

However, I felt that his use of repeating several key, funny phrases really held his whole story together. He's choosing his words carefully, which is crucial. I've been told by several big-time comedians I've interviewed that you must get rid of every word in your act that doesn't need to be there.
He flubbed a few small lines, but I felt he hit the notes he reached for in terms of language just fine.

For his act, he took us through his horrible experience staying at a hotel. We've all been there at least once, so I think it's prime for some great observations.
I, too, have had a nightmare hotel experience that I've told in front of a crowd.

I can't help but root for the guy as he refines his craft. He has a presence on stage that works for him. I think it comes down to more stage time doing stand-up. Something we all could use, myself included!

Jessie Knorr showed me a lot of soul in her performance tonight. I saw her play once before at the Montana Actors' Theater's First Friday Art Walk four months ago or so, and she's gotten much more confident since then.

Her guitar playing needs a little work in my opinion, but I say that in a very nit-picky way. Her voice is her strength and the guitar is there to keep things together. Her playing was not distracting, but it was pretty vanilla, also. Sometimes that's just fine when you have other stronger parts of your performance. I think her voice has the potential to take her as far as she wants to go with it.

 It's amazing how when she's NOT singing, she comes across as a quiet, shy girl. Then, when the music starts, she belts out these amazingly emotional phrases and you're almost blindsided. It's quite a combination.

She could still use a little more polish, but again, I think that comes down to more stage time in front of an audience.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the awesomely cheesy sport jacket worn by one Michael Gilboe. It was a red and yellow flannel number and I think it worked for him tonight. Now, It might not have worked for anyone else, but it worked for Michael. It made him hip and very host-like.

All and all it was a fine show and by the end the sold-out crowd was on their feet applauding. All the money raised tonight will go toward helping the 22 to 30 UGF students head to New York City for the NYC Musical Festival in July.

And seeing as it's now 2:01 a.m., I must be off to bed.

Good night!