The Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival has done well in Irvine. Now in its third year, the traveling show sold out at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater on Sunday night with the help of big-name comics like headliner Aziz Ansari, special guest Amy Schumer and a supporting cast of acts such as Anthony Jeselnik, Bridget Everett, John Mulaney, Donnell Rawlings, Sebasitan Maniscalco, T.J. Miller, Rory Scovel and it was all hosted by the very funny Big Jay Oakerson.

All amped up and ready to go, the crowd, which reached 18,000-plus patrons by the end of the night, was ready for laughs. By the time Oakerson was on the main stage and doing a spectacular job of warming up the audience before Oddball’s first comic, Scovel, the lawn was completely filled, but the majority of the orchestra section and high-dollar seats in the pit were noticeably empty.

Of course, it was the first thing Scovel poked fun at, noting that the rich people in Irvine were so rich that they could afford to say, “Let’s get there tomorrow … who gives a (care).” The opening sets were short, with Scovel kicking it off with a 10-minute set, followed by L.A. comic T.J. Miller who managed to have the entire audience staring at him with a raised brow, wondering exactly what was going on. In between some strange asides, he threw a bunch of Slim Jims into the audience, dumped a bunch of water on his head and sprayed himself in the face profusely with Evian facial spray as he noted that people in third world countries die from not having clean water and we buy it for $13 a spray can at Sephora just to moisten our faces.

Rawlings, who was part of the first-ever Oddball fest in 2013, came out singing along to French Montana’s “Ain’t Worried About Nothin’,” which he calls “Arguably the best hip-hop song ever written.” Some of his material was recycled, but he freshened things up with musings about dealing with being a new father to his son, Austin. For some reason a couple of grown men in the slowly but surely filling orchestra section decided this was a good time to fight. Words were exchanged and a full beer was thrown into the face of a man who stood up and delivered the weakest punch ever. They were promptly escorted out of the venue. None of this, however, fazed Rawlings.

Everett brought down the house. The fearless and completely immodest cabaret comic came out in one of her signature barely there outfits and belted out one of her songs as she was backed by recorded music tracks. As the crowd exchanged nervous glances, Everett declared “Some of you may not know me, but you will not (bleepin’) forget me!” As she sang, gyrated her hips and eventually flashed her right nipple to the audience she asked, “Anyone freaking out right now? You should be.”

Her crowd work and high energy was great as she got down into the audience and gave lap dances and ordered one man up onto the stage to wait for her as she climbed over other patrons in their seats, being not at all shy about flashing her red panties while she perfectly sang Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb.” Everett earned every moment of the standing ovation she received following her 15-minute set.

After a brief intermission, Jeselnik destroyed during his turn with some wicked humor. He opened with a story about seeing a baby in the back seat of a hot car in Irvine, which he deadpan followed with, “So it was a good day.” As the audience let out a series of “Ohhhh’s,” Jeselnik relished in it, letting them know that if they were already disgusted, “You’re in for a world of hurt. I don’t get kinder.” Though he is clearly the devil, Jeselnik’s unapologetic dark humor and serious delivery make him an Oddball standout.

Mulaney was far more innocent. He fared well with the audience with bits about being newly married, odd advances within the Catholic church and some jabs at presidential candidate Donald Trump. “Donald Trump is what a hobo imagines a rich man to be” and when he makes a decision, he thinks “What would a cartoon rich person do?” Maniscalco was also a crowd-pleaser, though most of his set was just yelling in a fake Guido-Italian accent.

When Schumer hit the stage, she was met with roaring applause. She’s definitely witty, dirty and very self-deprecating, but also she’s real and relatable. She talked about how she thought the paparazzi mistook her for being English singer Adele and how she has to put deodorant between her thick thighs to keep them from chafing.

She shared more stories about how the paparazzi took unflattering pictures of her while she was trying to work a stand-up paddle board in Hawaii and upon viewing the photos in magazines a week later she didn’t realize it was even her but rather, “Oh Alfred Hitchcock is alive and he enjoys water sports.”

Schumer did have to warn a front row heckler to quit yelling as she was telling jokes. The woman continued to be a jerk and midway into her set Schumer called for her to be thrown out. A few commented that Schumer’s actions were a bit harsh and that she should have a thicker skin, however, if the roles were reversed and Schumer showed up at your job and yelled in your face while you were working, wouldn’t you throw her out too? The rest of her set was sharp with bits about her Glamour Awards experience and her take on the Miss America pageants:“Why are we asking girls questions at a pretty contest?”

Wrapping things up, Ansari was also a big hit with this audience. He delivered some relationship advice and also admitted that in his family, eating bacon is frowned upon, but he just can’t quit it. He got political in talking about how he’d have to explain all of the YouTube videos showing police brutality to his grandkids and that he’d be happy to say, “Just be glad President Beyoncé came and cleaned that up.”

As a minority in show business he also addressed that a lot of TV shows and movies could simply be titled “What have these white people been up to?” or “What’s gonna happen to this white guy who meets Kevin Hart?”
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/audience-687196-schumer-set.html