NSFW — or Anywhere — Kamau Tries to Warn You Away From Scott Capurro: Does It Work?
By W. Kamau Bell, Wed., Mar. 2 2011 at 7:30 AM
Categories: Comedy, Humor
Scott Capurro is an offensive comic. He is NSFW … or home. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not judging. Scott wouldn’t have it any other way. There are many different types of comics. There are prop comics (Gallagher, Carrot Top), guitar comics (Flight of The Conchords, Henry Phillips, Rob Paravonian), Hip Hop comics (Katt Williams, Mike Epps, 97% of the comics who appeared on Def Jam, 99.9% of the comics who appeared on BET’s Comic View), alt-comics (Eugene Mirman, Kyle Kinane, Kristen Schaal), urban adult contemporary comics (Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey, Sinbad), and many more. And this is just a scant few of the categories. Feel free to add your own. One day maybe we’ll cover them all here, but anyway … Scott Capurro is an offensive comic. He’s a button pusher. He has written an act designed to make you go, “HOLY YIKERS! I can’t believe he said that!!!” And the thing is … it works. I’ve been a comic for more than 10 years. I’ve seen lots and lots of hilariously unrepeatable things. I thought I couldn’t be fazed, and in Googling video clips of Scott for this blog, I saw like nine of his in a row where I was like, “HOLY YIKERS! I can’t believe…” I was floored.
And Scott is not just offensive. He’s funny. Scathingly funny.
See, many comics are attracted to the idea of being offensive comedians. But only a very few pull it off. Other than Scott, the comics who I believe do pull it off are … Doug Stanhope and … and… Hold on… I’m sure I’ll think of somebody else. Give me a minute.** And that’s the problem. If you decide to be an offensive comedian, then you have to know that there is a fine line between offensive comedy and being just regular old Glenn Beck offensive. And the problem is every person in the world draws their own line of offense in a different place. “HEY LOOK, BUDDY! You can make fun of Catholics, but leave the Presbyterians out of it!”*
But Scott has what many of those wannabes don’t have. Scott has style. He exudes a gentle, affable style that makes everything seem OK while he is surgically eviscerating his subjects. And like a sawed-off shotgun, he’s hitting everything in his sights. Message to the especially squeamish, DON’T SIT IN THE FRONT ROW. He’ll get some on ya.
Maybe Scott is a prop comic. In fact maybe he’s like a highbrow Gallagher. Only his sledgehammer is his words. And the watermelon is our delicate sensibilities.*** And if that sounds like your cup of arsenic, then this Saturday, March 5th at 8:30pm, Daly City’s own**** Scott Capurro makes a rare Bay Area appearance at Marga Gomez’s Comedy Brains at The Marsh in Berkeley.
And if you often find that you are the type of person who doesn’t like to have their brain melon smashed, then this Saturday, March 5th at 8:30pm go to anywhere else but Marga Gomez’s Comedy Brains at The Marsh in Berkeley. Because if you do go, you are pretty much guaranteed to spend the whole evening going, “HOLY YIKERS!”*****
*Yes, this is an actual heckle of another comedian that I heard in a comedy club.
** Ryan Stout. Although he swears that he’s not offensive. He says he’s just being logical.
***Damn. This metaphor got lost somewhere along the way.
**** Yes, he’s originally from Daly City. maybe that’s why he sees the world in such stark tones. They probably didn’t even have the Target when he was growing up.
*****What? You don’t say, “HOLY YIKERS!”?