Spring Comedy Show was 'CAH-RAZY'

No comedic line was left uncrossed when Tony Woods and Tracy Morgan took the Dewick stage on Sunday night for a two-hour bawdy comedic performance filled to the brim with jokes referencing every form of sex (that is what I mean) and, of course, midgets. These comics are not for the easily embarrassed, offended or sexually repressed. Or, I guess, midgets.

Lesser-known comic Tony Woods kicked off the evening with a promising set that took a downward spin when he started discussing the intricacies of his intimacies with his ex-girlfriend who happened to be -- you guessed it -- a midget. He left no stone unturned (use your imagination folks).

Although his style took some getting used to, Woods had plenty of hilarious moments. He slurs his speech, sometimes stutters and seems to have difficulty getting to the point. Two minutes after he took the stage, I turned to my friend and muttered, "This guy has got to be on something."

Woods next joke, however, referenced the fact that people, such as the entertainment board who hired him, are often concerned for his state of mind. He reassured us he was perfectly all right, but his sober state just happened to resemble the average college student late on a Saturday night, or the comedian Mitch Hedberg, for those who know him.

Once I grew accustomed to his "shtick," Woods proved to be quite funny. He had the crowd from the beginning, when he started cracking jokes about how the entertainment board was worried he was wasted, and held the crowd through a bit about a trip to Australia.

Once he got to his ex-midget-girlfriend, the tension mounted. He was still funny, but he forced the audience to ignore the feelings of midgets. I don't want to come off as politically correct, but while many find little people to be intrinsically funny, a comedian crosses a line when he mentions how funny it would be to tip one over.

When Tracy Morgan took the stage, however, the crowd got riled up once again. Yet, even Morgan never quite put the audience at ease, which might have been his intention. Morgan launched into a set filled with masturbation, sex, taking "doo-doos," pedophiles, and more masturbation. Morgan stressed the fact that this stuff was all real and there was no need to shy away from it because it was funny as well.

Tracy does have a point: unlike midget jokes, there is nothing necessarily wrong with ones about masturbation. If women can stand up and discuss their vaginas in the name of empowerment, surely Tracy Morgan can stand up and make fun of males' favorite pastime. Morgan was tasteful to a point, when talking about Michael Jackson's relationships with young boys he paused as if to make a joke and then said simply, "There ain't no punch line for that..."

Morgan's strength was audience interaction. He poked fun at those who got up to go the bathroom, conversed with a photographer and repeatedly referenced the "shocker" -- a sexual action which he learned about from an audience member.

Morgan kept the audience's attention through his spontaneity. In fact, it was very hard to tell what, if any of his set had been previously rehearsed. He played off the audience, and steered away from material they did not respond to.

Still, if Morgan's set was on television, many a parent -- which Morgan himself is -- would have changed the channel. One has to wonder about the value of humor that has to stoop to the level of referencing sex and bodily functions for laughs. Yes, we all do it, and think about it, but there are reasons some of this stuff is private. Morgan seems to have problems with this reasoning.