Brian Regan at The Little River Casino

Well, tonight JJ and I went to see Brian Regan perform at the Little River Casino in Manistee, MI. Bad weather lowered the turnout by at least one: the comedian who was going to be Brian's opening act. Since nothing in the advertisements or on the tickets mentioned an opening act, we didn't know there was going to be one, and it's hard to feel a sense of loss over something you didn't know you had. I still did feel that sense of loss, but it was hard.

Brian did mention that his buddy had flown from New York to Chicago, apparently for no reason, and was now looking for a space on the floor to curl up and sleep through the rest of the holidays, so at least we got to laugh at the poor guy. I would tell you who he was, but his name was never mentioned, so I have no idea. If you were at O'Hare airport on Friday, December 28th, and slept on the floor next to a very bitter looking guy that seemed especially disgusted, and yet was funny anyway, that was probably him. If you got his name, let me know.

Just to set the tone for this "review," let me say that our expectations for this show were incredibly high, so Brian Regan had no chance to live up to them. He still did.

He started out with some banter about the weather, and some local jokes. Something like: I got a comment online that somebody was coming *down* to see my show. *DOWN*? To Manistee??? Who is this, Santa Claus?

It was interesting to notice the change when he slipped into his more "prepared" act. Not more or less funny, just different.

One disappointment with the evening was that I had seen most of the bits already on YouTube. I wouldn't have watched them, but I had no idea we'd ever get an opportunity to see Brian, as at the time of finding out about this performance there was no possibility that I would be able to get the time off work. Since I figured he wouldn't do another show in the area for quite a while, I thought I'd be safe to enjoy a bit of his humor online. Wrong. Of course, he's much, much funnier in person, but a lot of the time I knew what he was going to say.

The other was the big screen on either side of the stage. We sat pretty far back ($45 for these seats, and we were in the front row of that section) I think it was like $90 to sit down front. Anyway, from where we were we could see his face pretty well, but of course the screens showed it better, so during the punchlines I always found myself looking at the screens. I kept thinking, I could be sitting at home watching him on TV, I want to look at the actual dude!

But, for all those little details, and the incredibly slow drive there and back - it was snowing very hard, but come on, if you're going to drive 20 mph on a two lane, pull off every once in awhile and let the people who know how to drive go by - it was an incredible show, and as I left I noticed I had tears at the corners of my eyes from laughing so hard.

All but a couple of the bits I hadn't heard were unbelievably funny, and the ones I knew were still worth a second listen. Brian must have come equipped with some extra face muscles that we don't all come with, he can stretch and make faces that would make an on-duty D.O.T. cop laugh. And one time, he made his eyeballs completely disappear while his eyes were all the way open! Unbelievable!

As we walked through the snow to the car, JJ said, "This was the best Christmas present ever." Wow. She got a computer last year. This year she got a T-shirt that says "When I grow up I want to be a dumbass, just like Daddy" (get yours at OnlyIdiots.TV.) And this show was still better.

So Mr. Brian Regan, you are definitely the funniest man I've ever seen, and my daughter thinks you're the best Christmas present ever.

I would have a couple more things to say, but my truck is in the driveway and somebody just called and said they need some logs. So, just one quick Pop-Tart and I'm outta here.

- Trevor.
2007-12-29
Branch, MI

P.S. Get your piece of Brian Regan, the best Christmas present ever: