deansrobinson
VIP Whale
The Mrs. and I went to Brad Garret’s sold-out show at the Seminole Hard Rock last night. He did two shows, one at seven the other at nine-thirty. We were there for the seven o’clock as the next day was a school day…literally…’cause she is a teacher.
The venue was the Hard Rock Café, which was configured with bar seating (us), the booths, but all of the tables had been removed and there were rows of chairs. Cocktail service was available, but the kitchen was closed. The HRC opened an hour before the show, and we were in line about thirty minutes before that. As we were standing in line, I eavesdropped (as I often do) on conversations around me and the chitchat was a lot of reminiscing about “Everybody Loves Raymond”. I could not help but think that some of these patrons are going to be disappointed, as the ad for the show clearly states that this is adult material.
The doors open and we get our bar seats and watch the place slowly fill up. I did not think it was actually sold out, but eventually it did fill up. For some reason, I have it in my noggin that there are plans to open a ‘theater’ so we do not have to shut down the HRC to host events like this. The lesson learned from this is that you do not really have to be in line a half hour before the venue opens for general admission seating. Now, if you want a seat at the bar for the show, yes, you need to be near the front of the line.
OK, this is Florida. Let that sink in. Many cotton-tops. The demographic was definitely skewed towards the “more seasoned” Hard Rock patrons. Not a lot of young folks there for a night out.
The opening act was tough. He did about a ten minute routine and – you know how it is when you are the opening act – did the best he could. I don’t remember any of his routine – mainly because it was not memorable at all.
Brad Garrett took the mic, began by riffing on the age of the audience (fair game), and proceeded to go the interactive route with the front row victims. It was funny for the most part, but not hilarious. Moreover, it constituted about 80% of his act, with the other 20% being developed material / observational comedy. In addition, I was right…about half a dozen people left the show. This show is not an extension of Everybody Loves Raymond, and I would imagine they took offense to the language.
I have seen laugh-until-it-hurts comedy (e.g. Black & Brown Comedy Get Down) and I have seen comics struggle to get through a set, when it – for some odd reason – just does not click. I would put last night’s show squarely in the middle of that spectrum. Now, it could be that his Vegas act is considerably different from what we have at the intersection of I-75 and I-4, which I sincerely hope to be the case, as Cindy’s assessment was “disappointing”. Gotta be honest, I’m leaning that way as well.
In other semi-related news, Brad is guitar-smashing opening the new poker room at the SHR and playing a hand or two today. Moreover, for those of you playing along at home, the bankroll coming into the casino was $500 and going out of the garage was $70.
The rock giveth, and the rock taketh away.
The venue was the Hard Rock Café, which was configured with bar seating (us), the booths, but all of the tables had been removed and there were rows of chairs. Cocktail service was available, but the kitchen was closed. The HRC opened an hour before the show, and we were in line about thirty minutes before that. As we were standing in line, I eavesdropped (as I often do) on conversations around me and the chitchat was a lot of reminiscing about “Everybody Loves Raymond”. I could not help but think that some of these patrons are going to be disappointed, as the ad for the show clearly states that this is adult material.
The doors open and we get our bar seats and watch the place slowly fill up. I did not think it was actually sold out, but eventually it did fill up. For some reason, I have it in my noggin that there are plans to open a ‘theater’ so we do not have to shut down the HRC to host events like this. The lesson learned from this is that you do not really have to be in line a half hour before the venue opens for general admission seating. Now, if you want a seat at the bar for the show, yes, you need to be near the front of the line.
OK, this is Florida. Let that sink in. Many cotton-tops. The demographic was definitely skewed towards the “more seasoned” Hard Rock patrons. Not a lot of young folks there for a night out.
The opening act was tough. He did about a ten minute routine and – you know how it is when you are the opening act – did the best he could. I don’t remember any of his routine – mainly because it was not memorable at all.
Brad Garrett took the mic, began by riffing on the age of the audience (fair game), and proceeded to go the interactive route with the front row victims. It was funny for the most part, but not hilarious. Moreover, it constituted about 80% of his act, with the other 20% being developed material / observational comedy. In addition, I was right…about half a dozen people left the show. This show is not an extension of Everybody Loves Raymond, and I would imagine they took offense to the language.
I have seen laugh-until-it-hurts comedy (e.g. Black & Brown Comedy Get Down) and I have seen comics struggle to get through a set, when it – for some odd reason – just does not click. I would put last night’s show squarely in the middle of that spectrum. Now, it could be that his Vegas act is considerably different from what we have at the intersection of I-75 and I-4, which I sincerely hope to be the case, as Cindy’s assessment was “disappointing”. Gotta be honest, I’m leaning that way as well.
In other semi-related news, Brad is guitar-smashing opening the new poker room at the SHR and playing a hand or two today. Moreover, for those of you playing along at home, the bankroll coming into the casino was $500 and going out of the garage was $70.
The rock giveth, and the rock taketh away.
