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I had a fever, an insanely sore throat, and I had chills. Yet I was still in that seat with tears of laughter rolling down my face.
It began with the TV screen rolling fun facts like, "The most commonly used words in the English language are "the," "a," and "robot-cock" and something about zombie poop and spooge. Also, there were word scrambler quizzes that spelled out things like "I HAVE VD" and "CHRIS BROWN" when done correctly (don't ask why, but the Chris Brown word scrambler made me laugh damn near every time).
Then, Adam McKay did an extended "turn off your cellphones" speech that had a ton of added comments at the end like, "If someone grabs your hand in the middle of the show, don't pull away quickly, give it a chance, maybe something special will come of it" and things of that nature.
Will Ferrell came out in a Michigan sweatshirt, resulting in boos. He then ripped it off, revealing an OSU sweatshirt, and everyone went wild as he stomped the Michigan sweatshirt. He then fought ninjas in various ways for about 5 minutes.
He then introduced Zach, who came out and did his thing. I'd heard many of these jokes before, but they were still howlingly funny. The funniest bit of this by far is when the lights turned on in the audience so Zach could see the 18,000 people there, and he said, "Wow, now I know what Hannah Montana feels like. Without the fingering." I laughed for about the next 5 minutes. He said, "Oh my god, I meant for that line to stay in my head, and not come out." He did the dress-as-Annie "Tomorrow" bit to close with, and it was very funny, with the wonderful closing line, "STOP DANE COOK," written on his pad, which was met with enormous responses.
Ferrell then came back out in one of those old-person motorized scooters, which he kept calling "his Jazzy." He said "Jazzy" over and over again to great effect. He then answered some questions from audience members, including from one girl who was crying she was so excited. It was very funny and loose.
He then brought on Demetri Martin, who did again many jokes I've heard before. But Demetri's set felt very freeform, he improvised a lot and interacted with the audience a great deal. A couple of drunk people on either side of the stage were shouting for a few minutes, and he diffused the situation with some quick one-liners, like "Are you heckling or having diarrhea?" and things of that nature (note: every comedian had a bit about diarrhea in their routine).
Ferrell then came out as Ron Burgundy and interviewed OSU's President Gee. This was outstanding, not just because of Ferrell, but Gee was clearly milking the situation for laughs. When a ninja came out and attacked Gee, and Burgundy fended them off, Gee deadpanned, "Those damn Michigan people are always after me." Later, when Ferrell mumbled his words and blamed it on a sleeping pill he took, Gee said, "That's alright, I popped a Valium before I came out here." Everyone howled, and Ferrell took advantage saying, "Isn't it fun? Nothing's more fun than some Valium, a bucket of fried chicken, and driving to Michigan to punch people in the mouth." Gee was a great sport through it, and Ferrell showed grace letting Gee get some jokes in, complimenting him very well.
This was followed by Nick Swardson. Guys, if you've never seen his standup, race out and find it today. This guy might have had the funniest set out of all of them, and when hanging with Ferrell, Zach, and Demetri, that's REALLY saying something. He has a very college-dude demeanor, like a more laidback and far funnier Dane Cook. He did a bit about how sweet it will be to be really old that brought tears to my eyes. This guy deserves to have the mainstream success that Dane Cook has, because his everyguy routine is perfectly written, his improvisation and audience interaction is wonderful, and his jokes aren't terribly complicated, they're simply funny.
Then Ferrell came out wearing a mock turtleneck, dance tights, and Uggs to wrap up the show. He then began singing Alicia Keys' "No One," as all the other comedians took the stage and sang along, as the big screen showed a montage of "hopeful images", which of course began to get weird, eventually showing photos of centaurs and really obese babies.
All in all, it was one hell of a show. The three standups really are all on top of their game, Ferrell was a delightful emcee, and every single person leaving was talking very positively about the whole experience. If y'all have a chance to see this, run, don't walk, to go get tickets. My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide
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