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Tosh left videos behind, but had outlandish, hilarious performance

Ryan Johnson

I’ve often heard good comedians feed off their audience. Daniel Tosh did just that during two sold-out shows last weekend in MontBleu Theatre. He heckled the crowd, played off their ridiculous remarks and got a rise out of just about everyone.

The acerbic and juvenile host of Comedy Central’s “Tosh.0” took the stage in strange fashion, walking back and forth with his head down. Then he started by spouting off a not-so-clever joke about himself being a Tahoe native, and going to “Lake Tahoe High School, then to Lake Tahoe Community College and finishing at Lake Tahoe Tech.”

I’m not sure if that was his way of getting comfortable, but he quickly warmed up and brought some liveliness and enthusiasm to the stage.



I was surprised he didn’t show any videos, as he does on the television show.

He explained how “cheap his Comedy Central show was to produce, yet it trumped all other shows on the network.” After he was hired to come up with a creative idea for a television show, the network wasn’t impressed with anything he came to the table with, he said, so they asked him to create a show around the Internet. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for “Tosh.0” to take off.



But there is no denying his popularity as a standup comedian.

After he sent out a tweet announcing the Tahoe shows, tickets sold out in 13 minutes.

From touchy female topics to Hurricane Katrina, Tosh hit on all the sensitive subjects and held nothing back. He had material, about men and women, 9-11, abortion, suicide, unemployment, drug habits and mental illnesses. If you were relatively open-minded and try not to become offended, you most likely enjoyed the show and were dying laughing. I definitely was.

With such a broad range of material, he had something for just about everyone. He caused a real rise out of women and some male laughs when he said, “Men die earlier because they want to” and opined “the sex drive is usually fine, but the product may have gone sour.”

I only saw his first DVD stand up prior to the show, but it was clear not all of his material was fresh and original. I’m not judging, but as a big fan I’d prefer to hear some new jokes.

The show kicked off with a friend of Tosh’s, Kyle Kinane, dropping some jokes. He got some laughs, but no one seemed to be falling out of their seats.

Although the headliner didn’t have a perfect set, Tosh was extremely entertaining, to say the least. I look forward to the next time he graces Lake Tahoe with his presence.


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