Given his status as a cult icon after starring in the stoner classic “Half Baked” it was no surprise the he got greeted with loud whoops and yells of appreciation from the audience before his set even began. Williams has been in the business awhile it shows though I was at a total loss throughout the night as to whether he was working off of any sort of script or the entire night was just off the top of his head. I was really thrown off by his numerous yelling of “Hello!” and of his references to being a “cinnamon boy” throughout the night “I’m cinnamon boy!” he yelled into the microphone. I had no idea what he was talking about, it was funny but I was completely confused.
It is obvious that Williams loves the audience and loves to mess with their heads as well. At one point he asked if anyone had a tattoo. A loud and rather anxious member of the audience was picked to show his tattoo to Williams. “What is that sir?” Williams asked innocently, leaning over the stage to get a good look. When the man responded that it was a bird Williams got quiet for a moment, stared right at him and then began to squawk as loud as he could into the microphone. The night only got stranger as his questions to the audience became more random. “Have you ever gone up to someone with a bunch of nose rings? I saw this guy who had eight nose rings, when I met him I didn’t know what do so I hung a shower curtain on his head”.
Williams seems to enjoy talking one-on-one with the audience, seeing the look of shock on their face seems to give him a big reward. He casually asked if any of the guys ever wondered how many onion rings they could fit on their penis. Even he couldn’t keep a straight face at the end of that joke.
The sheer randomness of much of his material was refreshingly original. And, though much of it was totally scattered, a lot of it had some true satire mixed in. He was totally right when he talked about what a laser jet printer should do. “It should be up there hovering and flying around on little rockets saying ‘look at me I’m printing’ way above your head.” The audience cracked up cause as strange as the thought seemed, it somehow made a lot of sense.
His comic pacing was brilliant even at points in the show when I was sure he was completely stoned. Williams has a wide array of sound effects at his disposal and it felt like he didn’t use that gift enough during the course of the night. Hearing him do his Chewbacca impression was a definite treat.
Over the course of doing reviews at the Improv I have seen many good comedians, but growing up, “Half Baked” was an established classic between my friends and I. So seeing Williams on stage was not only fun but really brought me back. For a good time and a great show make sure to check out Williams; it will be a night to remember.
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