What: John Pinette
(opening act Graham Chittenden)
Where: McPherson Playhouse
When: Last night
Rating: 31/2 (out of five)
Let's hear it for the comic that doesn't do blue.
Don't get me wrong. I like blue material as much as the next guy. Who doesn't love Louis C.K. or Richard Pryor or Bill Hicks?
But somehow, playing it clean seems to suit John Pinette. He seems like a regular guy. A nice guy. The sort who spouts off angrily in a funny way at the office water cooler. Heck, you don't swear at the office, do you? Maybe a little. But not much.
Pinette -- who performed in Victoria last night and reprises his show tonight -- is an old-school style comedian who knows what he's doing. He's been performing stand-up for a quarter of a century. All those years of woodshedding have paid off.
Because he's a portly fellow, Pinette has long made food and weight (well, being overweight really) part of his routine. He does it in a clever way. Some comics might delve into cheap, self-hating shots just to get a guffaw. Not Pinette.
Last night, he joked about visiting the buffet at Disneyworld, staffed by cartoon characters such as Goofy and Minnie Mouse. Pinette's young nephew was scared by Winnie the Pooh.
"What do I do as an uncle, do I push the Pooh away?" he asked, adding: "That could have come out better."
Pinette complained bitterly about Disney World, where it rained for days. Not only that, the lions refused to come out of their lion cave.
"I lose my cherub-like demeanor when I'm at Disney World, I can't help it."
Other eating jokes: "They offered me pot in Jamaica. I said, 'No, no, no. I will eat this island.' "
Early on, Pinette spoke on the short-comings of boutique hotels (bad continental breakfasts). And people who don't know how to use elevators.
He also talked about novice hikers who set out equipped with nauseating trail mix. They get lost. Then their rescuers get lost. And "pretty soon you got half the province looking, because two a--holes bought new boots and compasses."
Other Pinette fodder: the trial and tribulations of shopping, weddings, parasailing, surfing and waterskiing.
Opening act Graham Chittenden delivered bits about cars without seatbelts, theatre late-comers and home renovations.
He also spoke about living at home with his parents until he was 28. This, he said, might indicate a developmental delay.
"I read that on a note in my room," he said.
Chittenden also wondered about the plethora of canes left in casinos that are never picked up.
"There's old people in there having so much fun," he said, "they forget they can't walk."
