Craigy On The Shores Of Lake Oprah

The mysterious folks at RSA News asked if I’d write up a short story about my recent mini-vacation to see Craig Ferguson doing his stand-up thang in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Which, if you know me, you’ll know that “short story” isn’t really in my vocabulary. But I’ll give it a shot!)

Waaaaaay back in December, Pabst Theater in Milwaukee announced that Craig would be bringing his Hot & Grumpy Tour to the shores of Lake Oprah the following March. Happiness abounds! Tickets purchased! About a month later, Pabst announced that the show would be moving to The Riverside Theater instead, due to high demand for tickets. When I got my new seat assignment, I was quite pleased, as it moved me up a few rows, from 7th to 4th.

*insert newspaper-flipping gif to note the passage of time here*

As March arrived, however, Craig was suddenly offered a role on a potential ABC dark-comedy pilot called “The King of 7B.” (Spoiler alert: This show did NOT get picked up.) This (as you probably know) meant that about two weeks’ worth of shows had to be either cancelled or rescheduled, so that Craig would be available for taping. Luckily, Milwaukee was one of those that was rescheduled, moving from March 22 to May 30. The new date actually worked out better for me due to *life stuff*, but it meant another two months of waiting.

*insert more newspaper flipping*

Finally, May came to a close and Craigy was on the horizon! I had decided to make a mini-vacation out of it (a whole two days), even though Milwaukee is only about an hour’s drive. I hit the road on Friday, and got to my hotel in the early evening, first stopping at a local cemetery (as I am wont to do) to look up a Great Great Grandfather. My plan was to just chill out at the hotel, and catch up on some much-needed sleep. Alas, *impending crisis* on the homefront meant I was going to be up half the night anyway. So I ordered some delivery from local institution Pizza Shuttle and settled in for some no sleep.

Saturday, May 30, was CRAIGY DAY for Milwaukee. The weather was what one might describe as “dreich,” if one were Scottish. Rainy, cold, windy, dreary. But I had packed a raincoat, and I *am* from Wisconsin, so I was not deterred from taking a stroll around the neighborhood in the early afternoon, and checking out the theater for the night’s event. Then back to the hotel to dry off and do my pre-show routine.

I arrived at The Riverside in plenty of time to get seated and enjoy Craig’s selection of Talking Heads tunes. The theater was very pretty, but had a weird cigar-y smell. (As I found out later, the theater is haunted, and the male entity that makes his home there has an unmistakable cigar smell. Creepy!) The two halves of Secretariat (Joseph and Ryan, doing double duty as tour managers) popped their heads out a few times to check on the crowd, and when everything was ready (a little bit late, but not by much), it was showtime.

First up was Craig’s opening act for the evening, Michael Palascak, who entertained us for about a half an hour. I had seen Michael open for Craig a few years ago in Hammond, Indiana, at the Horseshoe Casino (which is a horrible venue for comedy… that, or the casino crowd that night was just extra unpleasant), and thought he was hilarious that night, so I was very pleased to see him again. And once again, he had a great set! There’s just something about his delivery that just cracks me up. And his style is almost the complete opposite of Craig. Very low-key and stationary (But again – hilarious!), whereas Craig explodes with energy and simply CAN’T stand still.

And then it was time for the main event. With an introduction by Secretariat, Craig came bounding out on the stage to raucous applause and cheering, where he owned the stage – and the crowd – for the next 90 minutes. I had seen this routine many times before, and yet – as I’ve noted many times before – Craig somehow makes each performance feel fresh and new, like he’s just making shit up as he goes along. It really is amazing to watch. His energy never wavers, he always manages to work some local references in throughout — Tonight’s performance was heavily cheese-themed, both with Michael and Craig — and he keeps the audience alternately spellbound and in hysterics as he weaves a story around his big joke. I don’t know how he does it, but I’m very glad he does.

After the show, Michael was out in the lobby selling copies of his new CD, Job Opening, signing each one as he went along. I had the digital version already, but I did purchase the “hard copy,” and thanked him for the double-dose of entertainment. He’s a really sweet guy – if you ever get a chance to see him perform, GO.

So to make a long story short — Too late! — Craig was fabulous, Michael was awesome, and I had a great time. And this write-up is under 1000 words, so I think that qualifies as “short” for me. Haha!

Thanks again to Craig, for coming to Milwaukee!

(More/larger photos from this event can be found on my facetube page HERE.)