The Greatest Show On Earth

For a long time now, I’ve preferred comedy shows to live music. I’m not sure why, but concerts seem like so much effort and expense to me, and the crowds are annoying! Don’t get me started about the John Mayer show at Red Rocks. But when a comedy show is good, you don’t really notice the crowd, because everyone shuts up and listens. I’m a big believer that there’s something therapeutic about laughter, it just FEELS so good. Spend any time with Dave and me, and you’ll notice that we gravitate toward funny movies, funny television, and funny live shows.

I’ve been fortunate to see a lot of good ones over the years. I’ve seen Chris Rock, Jay Leno, George Carlin, Louie Anderson, Dennis Miller, Josh Blue, Darrell Hammond, David Alan Grier, and Dane Cook, to name a few. (Now that guy puts on a show.)

But my favorite is Jake Johannsen. I’ve been going to his shows since I was in college; the first time I ever saw him was in Des Moines. When I moved to Denver I was delighted to find out that he comes to Comedy Works every few months, and I’ve been able to pull together a new group of friends to go almost every time. So I’m sure I’ve seen him more than 10 times now… he’s just that good.

On Saturday I took a new crew with me, and it was a great show at the new Comedy Works location, only 1 mile from home. My eyes were tearing the entire show, I just loved it.

So here’s his website, keep an eye out for him. If you’re not familiar with any comedians, here are a few additional suggestions for guys that are funny without being too filthy – Gary Gulman, Mike Birbiglia, Brian Regan, Jim Gaffigan, Greg Behrendt, Brian Kiley, and Mitch Hedberg. They are worth keeping an eye out for, and a couple of them have videos on Netflix. Dane Cook is a little dirtier than the others, but he has several videos and they are just crazy good.