LIVE AT THE STRESS FACTORY
(Hammer has my sincerest apologies for not getting this review up in time. He sent in the day after he went to the gig, and I totally lost track of it. Oh well, better late than never. I'm an ass. Sorry Hammer. - SC)
It was a year ago today that I had the misfortune (yeah, right) of
interviewing Jim Breuer for this very site, Foundry Music. In that time I have seen him live three times including tonight. In
that interview, Jim told me about the warm-up shows he does in November at the smaller venue,
The Stress Factory in New Brunswick, NJ. I just missed him when he was doing shows last November.
By chance I saw Jim Gaffigan advertised in Tempo magazine this week and saw the Open Mic night listed. In my curiosity I jumped on the computer and to my amazement The Stress Factory actually advertised Jim’s appearance for these November nights. Just in case you're curious, Jim has done these show the last couple of weeks and should be there once again next week. You to can see Jim working his new material for Comedy Central and hell, Jim will be in cartoons, Spike TV?
We came in soaking wet from the downpour from hell. Others braved the elements to make it out on this shitty night. As is usually the case with these gigs however, “The show must go on”...and the show DID go on. Originally there were supposed to have been two opening acts, then one and by the time Vinnie’s banter was over there could be only one! Jim Breuer was here to rule the stage all on his own. No band, no people yelling "Judas Priest!" or "Iron Maiden!"; it was just Jim.
First off, he hits the stage and one guy yell something incoherent at him and Jim digs right in on the guy. After regrouping we are slammed with his new "Neighbor" joke, which has me in tears from laughing so hard. It was about being all high and checking out the trees and then hearing a weird ass sound coming from the woods. At first he thought it was a deer. Then he sees that it is a goat with his neighbor holding it by its horns.
There was another good part about his Mom and martini’s (Our good old
Steve knows plenty about that drink!). He also likes to scare the F out of his 80 year old Dad. There was a point that he admits that he rather be jacking it in a dark closet. He also gave away some great parenting skills. He and his daughter play Cat and the bad guy. The Teletubbie part of that joke should be more expanded. He also did some improv about the ghost of The Stress Factory. He then goes into some old school Goatboy; that he just can’t escape talking about. German Shepard, Pillow F-ing, being American Indian and Action Park were some other great moments of the night. The AC/DC and Metallica returning merchandise was also pretty funny. All in all a cool ass warm up set for Jim’s future endeavors. Who better that Breuer? Go see him you TOOLS!!!
