Imagine an evening where your sides hurt from laughing so hard and then add in one-liners and self-deprecating humor and you have Saturday night’s show.
Brad Garrett and Rita Rudner graced the H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center stage with their overwhelming presence and outrageous comedy.
Rudner was the first to come out and warm up the eager audience with her soft voice sashaying back and forth on the stage in quips and one-liners, which is what she is most known for in her comedic career.
After seeing last night’s performance, many individuals in the audience finally understood why she was named Las Vegas’s “Comedian of the Year” nine years in a row — she is really funny.
Rudner, a sassy and mature woman, talked about an array of topics ranging from the younger generation, politics, her adopted daughter and the difficulties of parenting. She sympathized with the audience and related to them on a deeper level.
One of her most memorable quotes from the evening was when Rudner jokingly asked the audience, “A good haircut makes you feel good about yourself, maybe that is what’s wrong with Kim Jong Un?”
Following Rudner on stage was Garrett, and the only way to sum up his entire set is by saying it was hilarious. From the moment he stepped on stage to the time he left, there was not one moment without a continuous uproar of laughter from the audience.
Stepping out with his 6-foot-8-inch height, he leaned up against the mic, and calmly asked, “Where the f*** am I? If I see one more Waffle House! I can’t fit in them!”
Garrett’s comedy was very self-deprecating, sarcastic and quick-witted. While Rudner sympathized with the audience, Garrett made fun of them. One of Garrett’s specialties was his ability to bring up uncomfortable subjects and force people to talk about them.
He was calling out people in the front row and was bantering them and asking personal questions. These questions ranged from “Do you got a prenup?” to “How’s your love life?”
However, Garrett presented his material as well, commenting on topics such as Shippensburg community life to his messy divorce, politics and how World War III may occur.
One of the highlights of the show was Garrett’s confusion with local terms, which led to him going on a rant about the abundance of town names ending in burg.
Garrett was also floored when someone in the audience said that horse and buggy insurance is a thing. In response, Garrett calmly looked off into the wings of the stage and asked the crew, “Am I being punked?”
Being a Californian, he was surprised with how different Pennsylvanians live their lives. His comedy was not for the sensitive, but was well balanced with the less belligerent humor of Rudner.
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