In January we saw Paula Poundstone at the Pantages. We bought our tickets well in advance and nine of us were up in the balcony laughing ourselves well. We love to laugh, so we love comedians. Last week I was watching cable, while Peg worked at her desk. I was howling and I remarked the guy I was watching was one of my favorite people. I've seen him numerous times on various Canadian comedy shows. I first thought Alonzo Bodden was Canadian, but no. He's from New York City. He won the grand prize on the third season of Last Comic Standing. I also knew him from the radio program Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me where he's appeared with Paula Poundstone.
In the Go section of The News Tribune I saw he was appearing at the Tacoma Comedy Club and mentioned it to Peg. Soon, I was online ordering $16 tickets. We were too late for the better seats at $22. At $16 we paid about $60 less than we had for Paula and were only twenty feet away from Alonzo.
The next evening we were at the Tacoma Comedy Club on Market Street in downtown Tacoma. Peg asked, "What's the address?" I gave my general answer, "What difference does it make?" It's just a few yards away from Tacoma Rubber Stamp. Peg was not amused. She likes details. We had never been to the comedy club before and didn't know how many people it sat. I'm guessing 250. It wasn't a sell out, but the house was about 80% full. Alonzo was booked for three days with two shows each day. We parked on the street less than a hundred feet from the front door.
I ordered Cheese Bacon Fries and a beer. Peg had two glasses of Pinot Grigio. There were two comedians warming up the crowd for Alonzo. Both were okay, but will get better. It's a process. "I've been so broke for the last couple of years, if someone stole my identity, I wouldn't be the victim." Very nice.
Once Alonzo was introduced we were off to the races . . . but not NASCAR. "They told me the hotel was just three blocks away. They didn't tell me it was three blocks straight up." He talked about the Seattle man who had climbed to the top of a 90 foot Douglas Fir and threw pine cones at the people below. "Throwing ? I knew right then he was a white guy." He joked about our ferries. "Black people don't take a boat to work. We've had a bad history of that."
I loved Alonzo's story about riding his motorcycle across America from California to New York. He rode through Kansas, Nebraska, and Ohio as being three days through corn. He checked his GPS and it just said, "A day and half more of corn." And he talked about the presidential candidates. Ben Carson? "He blinks slow." One thing you don't want to see in your brain surgeon is one that blinks slow. He also mentioned, "Trump says Puerto Ricans are his least favorite kind of Mexican." Funny, but not true. Trump makes many false statements, but this one is not true. I checked it out on Snopes. That was my only problem with comments from the evening . . . and at that it sounded like something The Donald would say.
Alonozo has a new fan. Peg loved him. We laughed and laughed. He had comical viewpoints on just about everything. The Tacoma Comedy Club has two new fans, also. We parked right across the street. The service was excellent. The food was good. The total bill at the club was just $30 with tip. So, for less than $70 (with the tickets) we had a great evening out and didn't have to drive to Seattle.
