It was Saturday night and Jeff Ross performed to a packed house at the Fillmore Silver Spring.
Tony Hinchcliffe opened the show with Daniel Tosh style humor about jousting midgets and weed, amongst other topics. While some of the jokes fell flat, there were some moments of inspired commentary.
With a high kick and rock star attitude, Ross stepped on stage with a swagger that commanded the audience’s attention. After some jokes about D.C. area, and a couple of zingers at the expense of President Lincoln himself, the show moved on to what Ross does best: speed roasting. The “roastmaster general” called audience members up to the stage and began to tear them apart with his trademark wit and verve.
The audience members were anxious to be roasted, running up to the stage in twos and threes, even to the point of playing along with the grand performance aspect of the show, roasting and insulting each other. As the night went on, Ross’s jokes became more pointed and infused with political humor. One about Osama Bin Laden implied that being so very isolated with four wives and three kids; he may have called the Pentagon himself to send Seal Team Six to rid him from the earthly realm. No human legacy was safe for Ross, including Steve Jobs and Whitney Huston, which Ross always followed with asking the audience whether his jokes were “too soon.”
Ross later picked on wide ranging topics from the underwear bomber’s insane plot to blow up his royal jewels, to Ross’s own New Jersey roots, even poking fun about how the Miracle on the Hudson was actually a desperate measure on Captain Sully Sullenberger’s behalf not to land in New Jersey.
During the show, Ross also gave endearing praise to the troops attending. Ross mentioned how honored he was that solders fight for his right to the first amendment and even tried to get one of the soldiers a kiss from a very intoxicated woman.
Ross concluded the show with love poems inviting people to the stage to play romantic piano serenades while Ross waxed poetic about lost keys. At one point, Ross debuted a poem filled only with the purring of cats to portray the sullen apathy of felines. The finale of the show was a very charming tribute to comedian Buddy Hackett, asking the audience to treat performers as good as they treated him, leaving the audience with a sweet release.
With rollicking roasting and entertaining commentary about the state of the world from past to present, Ross’s comedy was sharp and insightful, pushing the boundaries of sensitivity.
