Kansas City Comics Compete for Human Rights Campaign

On Thursday night, October 18, 2007 a packed house jammed Kansas City's venerated Bar Natasha for a riotous evening of guffaws and belly laughs to crown the funniest person in the city and award the winner the honor of exposing their unique gut-busting routines as the opening act for comedians Sabrina Matthews and Bob Smith, two Comets in the comedy firmament ascending straight to the top and exploding with caustic wit, personal observations of life as they know it, and comments on everything from world events to their grandmother's drawers.

The purpose of the event was to advertise and sell tickets to the even Bigger Event that you won't want to miss on November 2nd at The Uptown Theater located at 1700 Broadway, Kansas City, MO 64111. The Uptown will play host to the HRC / KC Sixth Annual Kansas City Comedy Night and, if last nights show was an indicator of what will happen when Sabrina and Bob are in the house along with last nights contestants, the enthusiastic audience might well bring the walls down. When preparing for this exciting night-of-nights, you may want to consider bringing along some earplugs.

A quick run-down of hilarious contestants competing for the winning spot included a broad spectrum of stand-up comedians giving their all for the honor and privilege of being recognized as the most talented and stage-worthy performer selected by a panel of judges who critiqued their performances to the delight or admonition of the standing-room-only crowd.

In a round of three grueling appearances calling upon their distinct and formidable talents; gifted, sharp-as-a-tack comedic performers of all races, creeds, and colors had but minutes to rule the stage, quiet the eclectic audience with their outspoken opinions of life as they see it from the perspective in which they are cemented by family history and unusual happenings in their curious lives. Needless-to-say, shrewdness and overwhelming wittiness prevailed as they each, in turn, offered their proclivity for the unusual, far-out, and downright audacious to their highly receptive audience.

In no alphabetical order, the challengers included Chuck "FatBoy" Brackett, whose insights into his gay lifestyle included disclosure of his penchant for big, fat men. According to Chuck, "The whole 'Chubby Chaser' idea is a misnomer ... you don't have to chase them. (screams and shouts) If you want to meet them, go to a Weight Watchers meeting." The audience was doubled over in their chairs.

Greta Wilckens garnered a huge crowd reaction with her confession that fall is a special time of year for her. It's the time of year she showers and can urinate standing up. Added to that, she claims that her Mother is a Librarian fond of giving books as presents during the Holidays. "The only problem is that they're due back to the Library in two weeks." If Greta's idea catches on the shelves of all libraries in the country will be denuded right before Christmas. In the Second Round, Greta delivered such lines as; "Today I combined Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer with Smirnoff Vodka. I had A Pabst Smear!" And, speaking as a teacher to her class ... "If I wanted you to open your mouth, you would have heard my zipper!" There were wild screams and applause for that one.

Contestants were judged on the criteria of humor, poise, continuity, originality, and audience reaction. From my point of view it was a knockdown, drag-out, go-for-the juggler, I'm-goanna-win-this-one comedy fest.

Contestant Lil Debi (Andrea Caspari), a self-described standup comic and schoolteacher, she told the uproarious crowd that she drinks on both of her jobs. Her closing line was, "I love you like a fat kid loves cake!" and exited to tremendous applause.

Mike Smith brought down the house with his delivery of local and political jokes, referring to KC's beautiful Swope Park as 'The Motherland." And Colin Powell as "the man who could have been the first Beige President." He confessed that, as a black man, he "doesn't do well with day jobs" and was forced to become a standup comic to survive. Insisting the term F-A-G is not an insult, he explained it's an acronym for "Forgot About Girls". The mixed crowd love-loved-loved him.

So many outstanding performances and so little space to do them all justice.

"Dirty Dorothy" was a huge crowd-pleaser. She's a gal with an act designed to wow the crowd while showcasing a made-for-Broadway singing voice and dynamite delivery.

There was a winner, of course, but I'm not going to tell you who, but confess that he/she was my personal pick as well as the Judges. This performer is ready for a big break on late night TV.

If you're up for a night of unparallel comedy and sometimes outrageous, raunchy declarations from comedians with solid futures on TV or headlining in Vegas be sure to log on to www.hrc.org/kccomedy and order tickets as fast as you can. It's a great foundation working overtime to preserve our founding fathers gift that has defined our nation to the rest of the world. We may be of diverse backgrounds and starting points, but Human Rights belong to everyone, and only in America, folks.

My advice is to pony up to the web and get your tickets fast because last year's event was a total sellout. If you're not there, you're not only square; you're possibly one of the four people still at home, wondering where everybody went.

If you've been living under a rock or addicted to daytime TV, it is incumbent upon me to tell you that The Human Rights Campaign is America¹s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. With its home offices in Washington, DC, the HRC effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that LGBT Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.