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Archive for the ‘Neil Diamond’ Category

Kurtis Conner (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, November 9, 2025)

Posted in Danny Gonzalez, Dean Hebscher, Drew Gooden, Jacob Sharpe, Kiss, Kurtis Conner, Neil Diamond, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, The Rolling Stones on November 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 9, 2025] Kurtis Conner

My daughter and I saw Kurtis Conner three years ago.  I didn’t know him at al, but I knew my kids really liked him.  I came away from the show laughing really hard and having a really strong respect for him as a comedian.

I still have not really watched any of his YouTube stuff (what I’ve seen I like, but it’s off my radar).  But what really impressed me (and impressed me more this time) was how a YouTuber who effectively uses editing can do standup so well.  He is (mostly) comfortable in front of the audience (in fairness, everyone there loves him and there is nary a heckler in sight), and he clearly feeds off of the laughter.

Although he is (quite a bit) younger than me, I found it really interesting that his childhood sounded kind of similar to mine–defects and all.  Kurtis is a feminist and an ally, and proudly on both counts (which I found wonderful since my kids liked him so much).  But he’s also able to look back on his younger self with dismay at the way he (and kids in general) behaved.  It does make for good comedy too.  Like he regretted that when he was ten, he and his friends used to use “gay” as an insult.  Like he would be drawing and his friend would come up and he’d tell the guy to get away and stop being gay–and then go back to drawing the most detailed penis you’ve ever seen.

The show was called The Goodfellow Tour and it is named after where he grew up–on Goodfellow Street.  A road that had a ton of kids in it.  They used to play together all the time.  He had a lengthy but very funny bit about a kid in their group whom they all convinced had super fast speed.  They would do races all the time and the kid with super fast speed (who was in reality the slowest person in the world) would win. It went on all summer until the kid’s father found out.

This was all in aid of a running joke that he is a compulsive liar trying to fix that about himself.  But somehow, he keeps lying–throughout the show, even, making the jokes even funnier. (more…)

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Kurtis Conner (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 1, 2022)

Posted in Danny Gonzalez, Dean Hebscher, Drew Gooden, Jacob Sharpe, Kiss, Kurtis Conner, Neil Diamond, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, The Rolling Stones on September 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 1, 2022] Kurtis Conner

My daughter (and apparently my son, too) loves Kurtis Conner.  They kept saying his name as if I had heard of him.  I had no idea who he was at all.  Turns out he is a YouTuber with a billion fans.

My daughter tells me that they Holy Trinity is Kurtis Conner, Danny Gonzalez and Drew Gooden (whom he has toured with in the past).  But without doubt, Conner (whose name is so simple and yet sound confoundedly hard to spell correctly with that K and the e) sits on top.

So what could Conner possibly do if he has made his career based on commenting on YouTube videos (or something).  And, I wondered aloud to both of my kids if I would enjoy this gig or not know what he was talking about.  I decided not to watch anything before hand so that I would have no expectations whatsoever.

So I glad I didn’t read this review beforehand

A big aspect of Conner’s set was integrating some of his classic jokes from his videos into his in-person stand-up punchlines. Of course he did it flawlessly, and I — along with everyone in the theater — loved it. Because prior knowledge of his jokes is needed, though, many of his references wouldn’t be understood by someone who didn’t watch Conner’s YouTube.

I have to say, aside from a few times when he said a line or catchphrase that people applauded (and I had no idea why), there was nothing about his show that I didn’t get.  And, best of all, I thought he was really funny. (more…)

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Greg Rucka, Matthew Southworth–Stumptown: Volume 1: The Case of the Girl Who Took Her Shampoo (but Left her Mini) (2017)

Posted in Air Supply, Asia, Blondie, Blue Shoes, Captain & Tennille, Chaka Khan, Cobie Smulders, Cole Sibus, Cyndi Lauper, Elton John, Eurhythmics, Graphic Novel, Greg Rucka, Hall & Oates, Jake Johnson, Kiss, Matthew Southworth, Micharl Ealy, Missing Persons, Native Americans, Neil Diamond, Oni Press, Pat Benatar, Pearl Jam, Player, Simplistics, Snap, Stumptown, Tantoo Cardinal, The O'Jays, The Pretenders, Tiffany, Violence, Wilson Phillips, XTC on March 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: STUMPTOWN: Dex’s Mixtape (2020)

One of the fun things about Stumptown is Dex’s car–an old beat up Ford that she loves.

It has a cassette stuck in the player and the player goes on and off seemingly at will.  I don’t think the show has explored all of the music on the tape yet, but it keep the soundtrack squarely in the 1980s.

This Spotify playlist has 90 minutes worth of music that could easily fit on the cassette in the car.

The only discrepancy I have it is that “Yellow Ledbetter” from Pearl Jam didn’t come out until 1992.  We haven’t heard it in the car yet, although we have heard it in her house, so we’ll just consider that song a bonus cut.

Here’s the track list

  • SIMPLISTICS-Heat of the Night
  • BLONDIE-Heart of Glass
  • ELTON JOHN, KIKI DEE-Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
  • TIFFANY-I Think We’re Alone Now
  • BLUE SHOES-Hey
  • NEIL DIAMOND-Sweet Caroline
  • THE O’JAYS-Love Train
  • ASIA-Heat of the Moment
  • CAPTAIN & TENNILLE-Love Will Keep Up Together
  • PRETENDERS-Brass In Pocket
  • HALL & OATES-Private Eyes
  • CHAKA KHAN-I’m Every Woman
  • KISS-I Was Made for Lovin’ You
  • SNAP-Power
  • AIR SUPPLY-All Out of Love
  • PAT BENATAR-We Belong
  • PLAYER-Baby Come Back
  • EURHYTHMICS-Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves
  • CYNDI LAUPER-Girls Just Want to Have Fun
  • MISSING PERSONS-Walking In L.A.
  • WILSON PHILLIPS-Hold On
  • XTC-Dear God
  • PEARL JAM-Yellow Ledbetter (1992)

What’s great about the soundtrack is that the rest of the show is contemporary and very cool, with some really good song choices.  But I love that they can have this unexpected throwback musical story running through as a commentary.

[READ: March 20, 2020] Stumptown Volume 1

I had heard promising reviews of a new show called Stumptown.  It is based on this graphic novel series from Greg Rucka (who has written some amazing books over the years).  When I saw that the graphic novels were still available (possibly with new covers–the publishing history is a little confusing), I knew I had to check it out.

I have since watched most of the episodes (I’m a little behind) and I am hooked.

This book is more or less the start of the first episode of the show, but the show has changed things (and basically made the ending very different).

But before I get to the story I want to comment on Matthew Southworth’s drawings which are really terrific.  His style is realistic but rough around the edges which works perfectly for this storyline.  There’s a lot of impressionistic moments where you can feel the person moving (or being moved) without the need for action lines.  Also, the casting of the show was really perfect.  Cobie Smulders is a dead ringer for Dex Parios in the book and Cole Sibus is amazingly cast as Ansel (Southworth does a great job showing Ansel’s Down Syndrome).  Cole Sibus is really outstanding in the role–his comic timing is excellent.  The only character who looks nothing like the book is Jake Johnson as Grey.  However, Jake Johnson is awesome and he is absolutely perfect for the role–I feel like he’s far more interesting than the comic book character (although in fairness, Grey doesn’t have that much to do in the book). (more…)

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