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The Wit and Wisdom of Steven Wright

Submitted by Seth Rogovoy on January 24, 2010 - 10:41pm

The Colonial Theatre
Steven Wright
January 24, 2010

 

 

by Seth Rogovoy

 

 

(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) - Looking nearly like a Hasid in a black floppy hat and bushy beard, Steven Wright inhabited the stage at the Colonial for nearly 90 minutes last night that, while seemingly as laid-back as his deadpan persona, actually amounted to a relentless, machine-gun-fire-like attack of one quip after another in Wright’s patented trademark style.

 

 

Wright’s gentle humor -- or not always so gentle, as with the years, he has allowed his material to become more overtly sexual and violent than it had been -- uncloaks another dimension of reality.

 
To wit:
 
 
I talk to myself fluently in languages I don’t speak to screw around with my subconscious.
 
 
What did Jesus ever do for Santa Claus on his birthday?
 
 
The New Testament is pretty old. They should call it the Old Testament and the More Recent Testament.
 
 
Imagine Pulitzer Prize-fighting. Two writers beating the shit out of each other.
 
 
My nephew has HD ADD. He can barely pay attention, but when he does...
 
 
I have two pairs of reading glasses, one for fiction and one for non-fiction. I read the Bible twice, once with each pair. It was the same both times.
 
 
The Earth is bipolar.
 
 
Next week I’m going to have an MRI to see if I have claustrophobia.
 
 
The ending of the Cold War started global warming.
 
 
I bought a new camera. It’s very advanced. You don’t even need it.
 
 
My friend is on the Ouija board of directors.
 
 
I have a friend with reverse Tourette’s. Random people swear at him for no reason.
 
 
I have a half-twin.
 
 
I bought one walkie-talkie. I didn’t want anyone to hear what I was saying.
 
 
I think it’s wrong that only one company makes the board game Monopoly.
 
 
You never see advertisements for string.
 
 
In Europe, is Miles Davis known as Kilometer Davis?
 
 
And, suitably, very near the end of the show:
 
 
Imagine if this was really happening?
 
 
 
And are we to believe that the folks at the Colonial weren't channelling Steven Wright's sense of the absurd when they dated the program for this evening's show thusly: "Jan 24, 2009" ??
 
 
 
Seth Rogovoy is Berkshire Living’s award-winning editor-in-chief and cultural critic. He is the author of Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet.
 
 
 
 

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