The Comedic....Um....Arts

On Friday my long awaited need to see Aussie comedian Jim Jefferies came to an end at the Showbox at the Market.
Showbox website.
I first saw Jim (I can call him Jim because we are dear friends now (not really)) when I was house/dog sitting in Greensboro over the summer. The house that I was at had TIVOed his HBO special I Swear To God and so I watched it one night knowing nothing about it other than that I had not seen the likes of HBO in months and was therefore thrilled to have it. About 2 hours later I was laughing out loud to myself and turning to Scooby (the dog) saying, "This guy is freaking hilarious!" I watched the whole thing over once more as soon as it had ended and laughed just as hard.
HBO special I Swear To God
From that point on I began constantly searching for his tour dates only to discover that he wasn't really coming anywhere near where I was except for one weekend he was to be in Greensboro at the same time that I was at the beach with Kevina and Greg having our last bit of fun before they left for the Peace Corps. Do I abandon my friends that I shall not see for 2 years to go and see a comedian? I may or may not have considered it but no I didn't.
Further checking of his website left me disappointed to discover that ALL of the tour locations were in Europe. I had already become a 'fan' of his page on Facebook long ago and had just come to the conclusion that it was never going to happen. THEN magically as if it were an answer to a prayer it showed up on my newsfeed that he had added new US dates to the tour, the 3rd of which was Seattle! Yes! Yes! Yes! I blindly bought 2 tickets without consulting a calendar or any of my friends to see if they wanted to go.
Fortunately Josi did want to go however no one else could be sold on the matter, which in retrospect may have been a good thing because the guy really is pretty offensive and may or may not have been a problem for some of my more PC PNW friends.
We got to the Showbox around 7:45pm to discover that a line had formed in the hopes of going inside. We met a super friendly and informed teenager in the line who described his first Jim experience identically to mine, and made a hilarious joke about how I must have tested Josi's sense of humor for the show by yelling the word 'cunt' at her repeatedly. I did not but this would be an accurate way of determining whether your friend or loved one has the capacity to withstand Jim. We get inside and manage to sit at the front, though it seemed mostly occupied by really young people, who I began to nervously wonder if they were even going to laugh.
The show was opened by two comedians who were local and said that they played somewhere on Tuesday nights or something that I could not bring myself to care about because I didn't like them as much.
And then JIM: He looked to be about half hammered before even getting on the stage and so adorable in his skinny jeans (no emo) and button down shirt. He was glorious. He did all new material and then at the end took requests for jokes from the HBO special. The crowd was a bit much. The Showbox has a sitting section in the front and two bar areas on the side. You are not permitted to take drinks into the sitting section and most people have to stand if you are up by the bars. I was in the front row and not thirsty enough to compromise my good fortune. So the bar crowd would not shut the hell up through much of the performance, which Jim handled with much grace mostly by yelling at them gently.
Regardless the show was wonderful. The best joke/story was probably the one about him taking his 30 something year old virgin terminally ill friend to a brothel. The poor guy was wheelchair stricken as a result of multiple sclerosis (i think) and had never 'known' a woman. So Jim and the guy's brother resolved to get him a prostitute which they feared may kill him but decided that it may very well be worth it to their friend/brother.
Other favorite high points of the show included a kind of a lull at the end when Jim claimed to be on 'borrowed time' and was just somewhat talking to the audience. This hilarity began when someone from the bar yells something which causes a man behind me to yell, "homo".

Bar Person: "a;sdkfowe98324** asdlkfj"

Man Behind Me: "Homo"

Jim (to man behind me): "What was that sir?"

Man Behind Me: "I said he was a homo."

Jim: "He's a homo? My aren't we quick to pass out that term when someone yells something. So quick to call someone a poofter. That's what they call fags in Australia. And in England a fag is a cigarette. But I guess a homo is a homo everywhere."

Different Man from Bar (taking advantage of the lull to attempt to make Jim discuss popular topics in the media aka Tiger Woods): "What about Tiger?"

Jim: "What about Tiger? No a tiger is still called a tiger in Australia. It's not like we see a tiger and say, "Oh look at that dog." No it is still called a tiger all over mate. Because when you see one, no matter where you are, you need to run away from it. So it is still called a tiger."

And scene.

He also took a minute towards the middle to berate some much younger teenagers sitting in the front row that had apparently not laughed during the whole show. During which he was merciless and I believe he frightened them into laughing because one of the smaller of the three began to laugh nervously while looking around and I am pretty sure that he had begun to fear for his life.
Jim was gracious enough to pose for pictures with fans after the show. His comedy isn't so different from anyone else. He still hits the same topics as all of the great comedians. Religion, sex, fat Americans that feel superior, and the way that the pandas are dying out because they will not have sex with each other. But he does it in a way that is horrifying because of the language he uses and the level of inappropriateness. As someone who feels completely desensitized by art school (particularly History of Women Artists class) and life in general, this is the only type of humor that does it for me. Its not for everyone but basically I am in love with Jim Jefferies.
Jim on Studs and Sluts
Jim on Pandas
Jim on Crazy Ass Women also known as 'This is Your Baby'