Serious laughs lie ahead

By Sharon Kennedy Wynne, tbt* staff writer
Published January 10, 2008

Comedy fans have a full deck of jokers coming to town during the first few months of 2008, from the brainy Margaret Cho, to the blue collar (Larry the Cable Guy), and all manner of college favorites and insult masters in between.

Margaret Cho

Friday and Saturday

The near-breakdown she suffered at the hands of TV executives on her 1994 sitcom All-American Girl was mined for comic gold in a critically lauded off-Broadway one-woman show called I'm The One That I Want, which was made into a concert film and a best-selling book of the same title. She rivals Cher as a gay icon with what one critic called her "resplendently nasty" opening monologue that will not disappoint longtime fans. Cho performs Friday and Saturday at the Improv at Centro Ybor, Tampa. $30. (813) 864-4000; www.tampaimprov.com

Jim Breuer

Jan. 25-26

The Saturday Night Live alum has a huge college following, thanks to dudetastic roles in the movie Half Baked and his hidden camera stunts for MTV's Beach House and on VH1's popular Web Junk show. His Sirius Satellite radio show, Breuer Unleashed, is celebrating its third year. He does dead-on impersonations, and invented what he calls heavy metal comedy with his impressions of AC/DC's Brian Johnson and Metallica singing If You're Happy and You Know It. Improv at Centro Ybor. $25.

Patrice O'Neal

Jan. 31-Feb. 2

His comic timing got its start with trash-talking during games in the projects of Roxbury, Mass. These days you can still find him talking smack, but it's more often on a VH1 clip show like I Love the '80s. He also pops up as a warehouse worker on The Office and had his own specials on HBO and Showtime. He even has an entry in the Urban Dictionary - "constupid" - his word for people who are both confused and stupid at the same time, as in, "You're worse than confused - you're constupid." Improv at Centro Ybor. $18-$22.

Diane Ford

Feb. 14-17

A popular standup thanks to her breakout performance on HBO's Women of the Night specials in the late '80s, she's a 20-year veteran of comedy clubs, with an old-school conversational delivery that borders on the dirty. Feb. 14-17 at Side Splitters Comedy Club. $14-$18.50. 12938 N Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa. (813) 960-1197; www.sidesplitterscomedy.com 

Ron White

Feb. 14 and 16

The Blue Collar Comedy tour is big in these parts, with three shows booked at Ruth Eckerd Hall, and two already sold out. So you'd better hurry if you're a fan of the cigar-smoking, Johnnie Walker-drinking Texan who goes by the nickname Tater Salad. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater. $43.75. (727) 791-7400; www.rutheckerdhall.com

Josh Blue

Feb. 15

The Season 4 winner of Last Comic Standing is also the only winner with cerebral palsy, a disability he mocks to hilarious effect (check out his mock Geico ad on YouTube that's "So easy, a cripple can do it.") With his right hand permanently clenched and his Joe Cockerlike contorted lean to the right, he needles his audience to laugh "because this is my Make-a-Wish." The discomfort is soon gone as the audience roars along with a comic who is funny and just happens to have a disability. $30.50-$40.50. Tampa Theatre, Tampa. (813) 274-8981.

Second City: One Nation Under Blog

Feb. 23

The famous Chicago training ground for comic actors brings a politically tinged show with cutting-edge improvisation. This is a chance to get your fix of comics poking fun straight from the day's headlines and politics. Ferguson Hall of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa. $29.50. (813) 229-7827; www.tbpac.org

Jeffrey Ross

Feb. 28-March 2

New York magazine crowned him "The Meanest Man in Comedy" for his ability to roast celebrities on an open pit of venom at the Friars Club in New York. You can see his professional hits on Comedy Central's airing of the roasts of William Shatner, Hugh Hefner, Donald Trump and Pamela Anderson, in which he scored with zingers like: "How is it possible that Courtney Love looks worse than Kurt Cobain?" Improv at Centro Ybor. $18-$22.

Don Rickles and Joan Rivers

Feb. 29

Few geriatric comics keep picking up young fans, but these two pull it off. It helps to have a foul mouth. The kids love that. Rickles, the "Merchant of Venom," is the master of insult comedy, and Rivers has mastered the art of insulting fashionistas, so brace yourself. Ruth Eckerd Hall. $39.50-$75.

Martin Short

March 15

The Saturday Night Live and Broadway star was hailed by Vanity Fair magazine as "one of the great comic geniuses of our age." The Canadian in serious need of Ritalin brings his one-man show, littered with spot-on impersonations, song and dance numbers and favorite characters such as Jiminy Glick and Ed Grimley. Ruth Eckerd Hall. $40-$75.

Larry the Cable Guy

May 16-17

Few music acts can sell out three shows in a row at Ruth Eckerd Hall, but after the redneck favorite did it easily last year, the hall was happy to turn over the place to the Cable Guy again for three shows. $44.75.

Sharon Wynne can be reached at wynne@sptimes.com.

[Last modified January 8, 2008, 17:08:53]