Re: Big O and Dukes coming back?
Date: March 25, 2013 01:26PM
Well gentleman, I finally did it. I went to a BOAD show.
Here's a TL;DR re-cap and review of BOAD Presents: Unforgiven and the events as they unfolded.
Personal background: I've been a fan of the show since around 2007 when I moved to the area. Despite being a caller to the terrestrial show and a contributor to the No Shtick Zone, among other fan dalliances, this was the first show event I've attended.
I went to the show on Friday night with three friends. One is a definite BOAD "P1": has a Reloaded subscription and has been to a BOAD show before. The other two friends remember the radio show fondly, and were along for the ride out of pure nostalgic curiosity. I warned them that there will undoubtedly be a ton of inside jokes that will go over their heads.
Upon walking into Jammin' Java, the scene at the front bar looked like a poorly organized Deadwood cosplay event. Tons of unfamiliar faces darted the landscape. Demographically speaking: out of the 50(?) or so attendees, there were no more than ten females present; some of whom may have been Jammin' Java employees. The attractive ones were generally attached at the hip to a boyfriend/husband who pitilessly drug them along. After grabbing a drink from the bar, I surveyed the landscape of people milling about the open space in front of the stage before Danny Rouhier's set. Most folks were adorned in some kind of western wear, or in some cases, redneck wear. Black-bearded “Blackout” Bruce was standing next to me in the crowd for a bit, along with three or four similarly bearded, overweight, and frankly menacing-looking rednecks. After a while of awkward standing and some offhand speculation among my friends as to which of the women could possibly be Princess Dukes, or Drab's underage lady, a kid wearing what appeared to be horse footy pajamas took the stage. "Hi, Horde", he timidly spoke, as he clenched the mic and began a rundown of the evening's events. In a few minutes Danny would be taking the stage, he assured us, his rundown peppered with a few nervous starts and stops, each followed by a chorus of boos from the crowd.
Soon after this introduction, Danny Rouhier took the stage. We were treated to roughly a half hour of stories and jokes involving "Unforgiven" and "Tombstone" references, along with some aggressive, Bill Burr-lite "I HATE PEOPLE" bits. Danny's set was very loud; his radio voice shining through. Some of his jokes were funny, and his delivery was certainly engaging. He proved to be the comedic tour de force that Dukes clearly aspires to be. But he so aggressively hammered home his punches with such sonic velocity, that much of the humor was literally deafened.
Following Danny, we were treated to another half hour of awkward standing around, listening to Ennio Morricone soundtracking (presumably so the Big Three could get further lubed-up), when the Horse-pajama man (a “Brony”), re-took the stage, along with a scraggly guitar-wielding youth. The guitarist was introduced as Lobster Red Face, who would play BOAD on the stage. Also sneaking on the stage was a slender gentleman in full Western bartender regalia, who, to his credit, seemed quite committed to the character: he wiped down the on-stage bar, maneuvered around glasses and pitchers of beer and liquor bottles, and chomped on a cigar, all the while donning the nonchalant, yet observant grimace of a barkeep used to trouble from his patrons.
Lobster then began to riff on his guitar, playing what sounded like a hastily-practiced amalgamation of "Ecstasy in Gold", a la Metallica, which went on for far too long. I believe now I remember that Lobster was a member of Harp & Eagle, and if his playing is any indication of how the rest of the band sounded, I believe that I missed precious little from the rare H&E show.
Finally, the Big Three took the stage. Drab was first, dancing in a full Native-American headdress, Oscar, with an over-sized cowboy hat and bandoleer, and finally Dukes, donning a long black trench coat, hat, and a “replica” rifle.
Whoever predicted in this thread that Dukes would come dressed as Longmire, and would be upset that people did not get the reference, was spot-on. Longmire was his costume, and roughly two people cheered at the mention of the little-watched show. We also found out that Zohan the Jew is our bartender! They proceeded to compliment his work ethic on the show, but lambaste his skills at pouring a proper pint. My respect for Zohan has increased: he did not make the show “all about him”. In fact, the actual content of the show revolved around Drab and his girl, Oscar's bizarre family some more costume discussion, constant (and usually hilarious) attempts to humiliate Dan Creasy, and a few off-hand mentions of the attendance being low. Dukes told a equal parts hilarious and disgusting tale of a bowel-related mishap that occurred in his marriage bed as a result of gorging on delicious Samoas girl-scout cookies. The story was classic Dukes: self-deprecating and hilariously recounted, with great reactions from Oscar and Drab. Other than the story itself, the other disgusting things onstage were Dan Creasy's unfortunate man-boobs, and the sickening sight of Dukes drinking his beer: a bizarre, open-mouthed suction of the liquid down his gullet: not quite a gulp, or a chug, but a repulsive suckling. I tried to look away whenever a drink was consumed.
At one point in the show, Oscar prefaces a story by saying: “for those new people in the audience who may not be familiar with _____”. But Drab shook his head, lamenting: “There's nobody new here.” But there were three there who WERE new. And even my confused friends admitted that the majority of the show was very similar to what they remembered liking about the terrestrial show; funny, engaging, and easy to relate to overall. However, there still was the expected filler of discussions with tertiary cast members that generally went nowhere and made the show drag at times, and elicit shrugs from my compatriots.
And I think ultimately Drab's head-shaking acceptance that there are “no new people” there to enjoy their show is what will continue to stifle the growth of BOAD. The niche hole that the boys have placed themselves in leaves little room for the uninitiated to become familiar with the “brand”. And that is truly a shame.
For Fairfax Underground, I'm Yabels, reporting.