Saturday, September 12, 2009

REGGIE WATTS

Reggie Watts looks like a homeless guy they would lock up if he strolled through your neighborhood. He's a very funny cat--in a post-modern, apocalyptic sort of way--and how else would you like your humor? Jokes? Take my wife, please? If you want something new and different, free from all the tropes and cliches of typical television humor, listen to Reggie Watts. He's a riot.



We caught up with Reggie doing stand-up at Bumbershoot, the Seattle music and arts festival held over labor day weekend. He spoofed soul music and hip hop, pop culture and machismo and class--and performed a terribly funny riff on stuffy academics. Oh, and blacks and whites. Reggie switches voices and accents, sings and scats and makes strange noises, and challenges your expectations. Most of the time the best humor comes from the worst places, the ghettos and shtetls and slums of the world where humor is a well-honed survival skill. "Funny" is a coping mechanism, and we could all use more of it in this stressful, crazy, frightening, dangerous and divided world--don't you think? Loosen up before it's too late.

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