Because of her outsize personality and some of the “trouble” that it has gotten her into during her career, it’s easy to overlook just how much Roseanne Barr revolutionized comedy, both in the stand-up arena and on television. It’s easy to forget how she brought a common person’s point of view to humor and in the process created one of the most ground-breaking television series in history.
It’s also been too easy to forget just how darned funny she is, but luckily Roseanne is back on stage in Las Vegas at The Sahara to remind you.
She looks amazing no matter how many fat and post-menopausal jokes she wants to tell about herself. The last decade spent more out of the spotlight than in it has done nothing to dull her frank, fiercely aware, and foul-mouthed sense of humor. Yes, it should come as little surprise that this is not a show to bring the wee ones or the easily shocked.
During her roughly hour and fifteen minutes on stage she tackles current events and old tropes, from speaking for all of us when mentioning how sick she is of the endless election coverage to the drawbacks of getting older. On the latter she says, “Now, I’m a multi-tasker. I pee when I sneeze.”
As has her been her trademark, there are no sacred cows in a Roseanne Barr stand-up routine. Barbara Walters, the diet industry, Britney Spears, and her ex-husbands are all targeted with glee, providing some laugh out loud moments that I can’t reprint here.
She even throws in a few of her classic one-liners for the long-time fans in the audience. Of men and their ability to read maps she says that only a man could understand the concept of “one inch equaling 100 miles.”
But interspersed in between the rounds of jocular bitchiness are some deeply observant thoughts. She very neatly sums up the current world situation by saying “Half of the world is starving and the other half is trying to lose weight.” That’s not only witty but it’s downright brilliant.
On the environment she talks about how the she had never been concerned about the vanishing rain forest because its inhabitants - “Monkeys, parrots, and slugs – (screw) them, they don’t even make good eating.” But then someone told her that the rainforest’s cocoa trees are where a bunch of the world’s chocolate supply comes from and she was ready to fight. Again, humorous, but underneath is a worthy point of making people understand that what happens on the other side of the world has an effect on what happens in your own home.
But mostly, thankfully, Roseanne Barr is still just one funny broad. Go see her and remind yourself just how funny she is.
Vegas4Visitors Grade: A
Roseanne Barr
The Sahara
2535 Las Vegas Blvd. S
702-737-2515
website
Price:
$60 and up, plus tax
Showtimes:
Wed-Sat 9:30pm
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