steve – Josh Bradley Live

“If you get offended by anything, please just send an email to my team. toughshitnorefunds@gmail.com!” Comedy legend Steve Martin opened yet another sold-out show with mediocre comedian (to him, anyway) Martin Short with.

Were there offensive elements? Sure. But was the show itself a riotous, comedic mess in its own ideal way? Without a doubt.

The superduo released a special on Netflix a year or two ago, entitled An Evening You Will Forget For The Rest Of Your Life. And though this string of dates, properly titled The Funniest Show In Town At The Moment, takes place two years later, there wasn’t really much in the way of material unseen in the special. There was a smidge more commentary during some portions though, which probably explains why the evening was about 45 minutes longer than the Netflix special.

Once a montage of the headlining duo’s best moments in film went black, the original Wild And Crazy Guy came out around 8:15. Almost immediately after his warnings about there being no intermission, and how he doesn’t care if you get offended, he introduced his “lesser-known” sidekick.

“Just because I said thank you doesn’t mean you have to stop applauding!” Marty jabbed almost immediately. A few insults and anti-compliments later, the two burst into song, with Jimmy Kimmel Live! pianist Jeff Babko, admitting that they have over-inflated egos, but were about to kick some serious comedy ass.

First and foremost, some childhood images of the comics were displayed on a big screen that normally magnified the two. “That was the year I was voted ‘Most Likely To Marry A Cousin!’” Marty admitted upon seeing his high school senior photo. “GET THAT OFF THE SCREEN!” Steve hollered, upon coming face-to-face with a picture of the two making out at an AFI event.

Most of the night consisted of roasting each other on how chubby or old they once looked for their age, or how painfully lame and unentertaining each other’s work was. But after teaching three guys from the audience The Three Amigos salute, a sliver of civility finally came out when the two sat in their living room-style chairs, and just reminisced for about twenty-five minutes. They were mainly short anecdotes about their extensive careers, from when Marty actually met Katharine Hepburn, to when Steve told about a time him and Marty went to St. Barts for Christmas, and The National Enquirer shot a rather unflattering photo of the two in the ocean.

“We’re gonna keep doing this until we’re not having fun anymore.” Marty confirmed. Steve responded by standing up and striding offstage. With that, Babko came back out, and Marty carried on with talking about his life, his parents, and auditioning for many a Broadway show. He then presented a snippet of what was said to be his first show, “a nude version of the second best story ever told, Stepbrother To Jesus.” By the end of it, even Babko was in a nude suit, flopping around his hand down by his…never mind. “Come on, Jeff, I’ll show you somethin’ huge!” Marty yelled as Steve shooed the two offstage in utter disgust.

If you didn’t know, Steve has been a prodigious banjo player for over 50 years, claiming to have written over 100 banjo songs. He was even kind enough to explain the difference between the banjo and the guitar. “The guitar can get you laid.” he proclaimed.

He sat down and started plucking away effortlessly on a medley of songs he’s written over the years, joined by critically acclaimed country quintet, The First Ladies Of Bluegrass. Before the quintet alone got fifteen minutes devoted to their twangy tunes, the six onstage rocked out to a newer song, I Can Play The Banjo.Every time a break in the lyrics came, one of the First Ladies would do a solo of some sort on their instruments. Steve would then present a dirty look, as a reminder that this was his moment to shine. Nope, no sign of King Tut anywhere.

Once the group’s set ended, Steve came back out to talk some more about ticket prices, until Marty and crew member Jesse Lundsford interrupted him, both slowly marching out in Scottish regalia. He picked Marty up, who put his thumb to the side of Jesse’s mouth, and while rhythmically kicking his right rainbow-socked foot, non-mournfully ululated Amazing Grace, as if he were Jesse’s personal set of bagpipes.

“I can’t believe you laughed at that.” Steve annoyingly poked.

Next came a “puppet” of Marty’s Jiminy Glick, saluting a time when Steve was supposedly doing ventriloquism. Like in the Netflix special, and in general, the two only did one thing together: Roast the hell out of political figures, and Kim Kardashian.

“This is what she looks like without makeup!” The photo on the screen changed from Kim Kardashian to Steven Tyler. Brilliant. Also, apparently Bernie Sanders looks like a used tissue, and Kim Jong Un looks like a bouncer in a lesbian club.

Jiminy ran (yes, ran.) offstage, and out came Marty in his standard suit and tie. Ending the show were eulogies written by each other, for each other, just in case they don’t die together. As you can imagine, Marty’s was full of true sentiment and grief, while Steve’s was just affronting, in his own, perfect, Steve Martin way. “Wow, small turnout. Normally, when the world loses a comedian, everyone’s sad.”

All jokes aside, here’s to many, many more years from the two egomaniacs. We need them immensely, even if their schtick remains more or less the same.

Once again, I will officially be reviewing Yes featuring Anderson, Rabin, and Wakeman on October 11 at Ruth Eckerd Hall! This will be my second time seeing them and my first time reviewing them over here. I reviewed them for my school paper last year as a sophomore, but needless to say, nobody, even my journalism class director, didn’t really pick up on it. But I thought that perhaps you would. I walked in that venue thinking of Yes as sort of a mediocre band. But I walked out with them in my top 10. Barely edited for accuracy, this was the first concert review I ever wrote last year, following ARW’s first Ruth Eckerd (and second overall) show that I was invited to the night before it happened. And keep in mind that it was mainly directed towards stupid teenagers who probably hadn’t heard of Yes.

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In today’s generation, a typical teenager enjoys rap and autotune, and a lot of them don’t know of some amazing music of the past. I’m the only one without a silver head at the concerts I go to, because I have an odd taste in music. This year, with the passings of David Bowie, Glenn Frey of the Eagles, and Prince, a load of people, including myself, have learned to never take anybody for granted, and this is why now is the best time to see some rock legends live before they pass away. Friday night, however, in Ruth Eckerd Hall, stood three gentlemen, two in their 60s and one in his 70s, playing a reunion concert. And you know what? The gentlemen sounded just like they did since the beginning.

The former members of the progressive rock band YES, Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, and Rick Wakeman have embarked on a world tour as ARW. Anderson still has his truly soprano voice, Rabin still shreds out the guitar solos like a master, and Wakeman played more than five keyboards and a keytar that night, sometimes two at once. They decided to kick off the tour in Orlando on Wednesday night, and were scheduled to play a show in Hollywood, FL, but had to cancel because of Hurricane Matthew. Rabin and Wakeman opened with the iconic Cinema from Yes’ 1983 album, 90125, as Anderson came running out with his Mickey Mouse gloves. The new reunion band gave its audience of about 2,000 people an electric ride through songs such as Hold On and the classic Rhythm of Love. About three quarters of the way through, as Rabin walked offstage for about two minutes, Anderson and Wakeman played a four minute song from when they were a part of a different incarnation of former members of Yes in the late 80s, which featured both of them, as well as guitarist Steve Howe and original drummer Bill Bruford. The piano accompanied song, The Meeting, which was written “at midnight, under the stars” according to Anderson. The band wrapped up the evening with their nearly 20-minute epic, Awaken, from their 1977 album Going For The One, and perhaps their most iconic song, Owner of a Lonely Heart, along with an encore of Roundabout.

“You’ll never hear a finer show,” lifelong fan Rodney Wademan stated at the end of the show. Concerts are always amazing to attend, especially if they’re somebody who has aged and still has energy and talent, because thirty years from now, if the artist has passed on, you’d have a bit of a bragging right, because you will have experienced something that your children, and possibly even your peers, unfortunately, never will get to. But with the way that all three members of ARW look and sound, even after almost 50 years, they could stay alive for another 50.