There’ll be laughs aplenty in Savannah this weekend — and this time, we’re not talking about the City Manager debacle.
Two back–to–back concerts, both of them in the Johnny Mercer Theatre, will deliver a pretty vast cross–section of comedians. Each show targets a very different audience.
On Feb. 11, Tim Wilson headlines “John Boy and Billy’s No Collar Comedy Tour,” a spin–off of syndicated radio’s The Big Show, which specializes in lowbrow redneck comedy for the NASCAR crowd (not that there’s anything wrong with that!)
The following night brings Latino comic Gabriel Iglesias, a large man with a large bag of funny voices and sound effects. He’s a Last Comic Standing veteran and a common sight on Comedy Central and BET Comic View.
The Big Show, which originates in Charlotte, N.C., is a morning program syndicated (weekdays 6–10 a.m.) on more than 70 American stations, including I–95 (WXIV) in Savannah.
The live stage bonanza includes appearances by program regulars Vic Henley, Killer Beaz and Greg Warren, part of John Boy and Billy’s rotating cast of on–air good–old–boy wackies.
Headliner Wilson, who’s been making records with Capitol Nashville for a decade, is one of the most consistently successful “country comedians” on the circuit.
A Georgia native, he’s sort of a harder–edged but less sarcastic Ron White – without the Scotch and cigar – and he’s also a satirical singer/songwriter whose best–known tunes include “First Baptist Bar and Grill,” “The Jeff Gordon Song,” “Chucky Cheese Hell,” “Church League Softball Fist Fight,” “Booty Man” and “Hillbilly Homeboy”:
He left the inner city and moved to the hills
Traded in his crack pipe on a moonshine still
His gang bandana sure looked bad
but it’s the only color that the bait store had.
Gabriel Iglesias has probably never been in a bait store in his life. But the Long Beach comic, of Mexican heritage, has frequented a bakery or two. In fact, much of Iglesias’ material centers around his considerable girth.
He has a bit about “the five levels of fat,” and says he’s at the sixth level – “fluffy.” In fact, it’s become his nickname, and “The Fluffy Comic” his professional I.D. badge.
Iglesias, just 34, has a unique mastery of human voices – he can do a giggling, squeaky–voiced white Anglo woman and make you think she’s on the stage somewhere, just behind the curtain – and his involved stories are punctuated with hilarious sound effects, all of which he provides, between words.
John Boy and Billy Comedy Tour With Tim Wilson, Vic Henley, Killer Beaz, Greg Warren
Where: Johnny Mercer Theatre, Savannah Civic Center, 301 W. Oglethorpe
When: At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11
Tickets: $27 at etix.com
Online: timwilsonamerica.com
Gabriel Iglesias
Where: Johnny Mercer Theatre, Savannah Civic Center, 301 W. Oglethorpe
When: At 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12
Tickets: $38 at etix.com
Online: fluffyguy.com
