Three comics shake up the market

Comedian Steve Medley appeared at the Market in the Indiana Memorial Union Friday as part of a night of comedy sponsored by Comedy Caravan. Medley, along with two other comics, performed jokes and skits in front of a full audience. The show included Scott Dunn, who has been on "The Man Show" and was featured on Bob and Tom's latest CD, and Randy Madsen, whose sense of humor caused the only outburst in the night's events. Each performer presented material for about 30 minutes.\nScott Dunn began the evening by advising the men in the audience if they are ever going to offer to pick up a woman and carry her, they should be sure they can do it because there is no saying in the middle of the act, "Whoa, I misjudged that!" He also noted when he went home to visit his parents and slept in his own room, which was now being slept in at night by the family cat, as an act of protest, the cat would run out of the room and alleviate itself on the floor. This led his dad to suspect him of creating the mess on the floor because, as his Dad said, "All I'm saying is, when you're not here, it doesn't happen." \nMedley's act ran along the same lines, as he told jokes inspired by everyday life. He told the audience his goal was to make sure everyone had a good time and was able to escape, at least for a little bit, the stresses of their daily lives. He discussed everything from bad mascot names (the Poets, the name of a high school football team in Montgomery, Ala., as the worst), to why class reunions are so much fun, how to train a cat by putting him in the microwave when he disobeys, why Halloween is the best holiday (because it's fun to scare people) and Indiana's position on daylight saving time. \nMuch of Medley's comedy dealt with helpful hints to the audience and lessons in life Medley had learned over the years. The first tip Medley gave to the audience was on how to enjoy golf.\n"If you want to enjoy golf the first time you try, the first time you go out, number one, get a cart, number two, get a cooler," Medley said. " You knock off 10, 12 beers, you're jumping that car over the greens. You don't even care about the ball anymore."\nMedley also told the audience about the four most dreaded phrases in newspaper headlines. \n"There are certain words and phrases you never want to see in a story about yourself in the paper. For example, 'a hail of bullets' -- not good. 'IRS audit' -- not good. 'Nude and disoriented' -- bad ..." Medley said. "But the number one phrase you never want to see in a story about yourself in the newspaper is 'police suspect alcohol was involved.' Nothing good comes from this."\nThere was some tension during Randy Madsen's act, which followed Medley's. Early in Madsen's act, he made fun of the fact that the Japanese chose Moth Man to be Godzilla's arch enemy. In doing so, he mocked Japanese patterns of speech and mannerisms. He also included jokes about the physically disabled and female rape victims. Some members of the audience found this type of humor to be offensive, as the laughs subsided after Madsen began these routines. At one point, Madsen jokingly asked why no one was laughing. After the question, an unknown audience member called Madsen a racist and stormed out. \nMadsen attempted to deflect the situation with humor and proceeded with his act, but it was clear the scene left the audience a bit deflated. Other audience members, such as IU senior Chris Barnes, thought the man in the audience had overreacted.\n"People need to be more open-minded and realize that what these comics are saying are just jokes. People get offended too easily," Barnes said. "They just need to be more open-minded. Some people are just way too sensitive."\nOther audience members, such as Abigail Webb, an IU sophomore, and her brother Chris Webb, agreed with Barnes' sentiments that the outburst by the audience member was rude and unnecessary.\n"I've seen some of these guys on television," Chris said. "And the fact that these big names would be treated like this is a joke."\nAbigail concurred.\n"If you want to say something to the comedian afterwards or if you want to write a letter, fine. But saying stuff when the comedians are on stage, that's not the right time or place," Abigail said. "Yelling stuff out like that really throws comedians off. I just hope that they (the comedians) weren't too offended by it." \nOverall, despite the verbal outburst during Madsen's performance, all who attended appeared to enjoy the event. Barnes said he thought all the comedians were hilarious and the performance was great. \nAbigail Webb said she really enjoyed the different styles of the three comedians and she especially found the jokes about Indiana people being stupid to be very funny.\nChris Webb said he loves stand-up comedy and attends such performances as often as he can, so this event was great fun for him. \nSteve Medley will be performing at 7:30 and 10:15 p.m. tonight at Bear's Place, 1316 E. Third St. Admission to the show is $4. \n-- Contact staff writer Jamie Swhier at jswhier@indiana.edu.