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By Rob Goald
rsgoald@comcast.net
Craig Shoemaker
Canyon Club at The 4 Queens Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada
Saturday June 2nd
$22.50
For its first foray into comedy, the newly incarnated Canyon Club (an
offshoot of the Agoura Hills, California music and dinner club) housed
in the Fremont district’s historic 4 Queens Hotel headlined comedian/
actor and screenwriter Craig Shoemaker. Shoemaker’s impressive resume
includes having been named Comedian of the Year by the American Comedy
Awards, two NATAS Emmy Awards and appearances on over 100 television
shows and a concert film in the late 1990’s entitled Lovemaster. To
challenge Howard Stern as the self proclaimed “King of All Media” he’s
even hosted a nationally syndicated radio show which won the
Communicator Award “Crystal Prize”.
The show which was advertised as starting at 8 didn’t get going until
9:15pm with a warm up comedian named Rob Sherwood who provided some
mildly amusing scatological humor. His attack on Vegas as a place to
bring the whole family for “drinking, gambling and whoring” was funny
and “on the money”.
The Canyon Club whose décor is in the “old Vegas” style of tables,
couches and stools laid out in supper club fashion was at first
lambasted by headliner Shoemaker as a “hookah lounge” where people who
have “brushed their tooth” could get together for an evening out. In
actuality the club is comfortable, and a great place to kick back and
get a few drinks and whole lot of laughs. There even seems to be the
option of ordering a full blown dinner (“Porterhouse Steak”) although I
didn’t see many people going that route.
Craig Shoemaker
Shoemaker’s 70 minute rant was entertaining and truly funny as he
whisked us through a variety of impersonations and reflections on modern
day terror paranoid America. His experience with his automobile
“Navigator” asking him “why?” when he was trying to locate Fremont
Street will bring a smile to the face of any native Las Vegan. His
airport experiences wherein his deodorant was confiscated are amusing
and unfortunately a sign of the times. In a dead-on imitation of
superstar comedian Chris Rock, Shoemaker was hilarious as he insinuated
that he is a “cracker who can’t get away with shit”.
Shoemaker’s comedic style depends heavily on his ability to mix
reflections on his love life (“I might have to cut my act short because
my wife got half of my jokes in the divorce settlement”) and dramatic
vignettes. His “gay” impersonations while fallen back to a little too
often were flawless. The dramatic segments he worked into his act were
particularly satisfying. There are hilarious encounters with the
inventor of the “Pez” dispenser, “then and now” jokes such as the UHF
tuner with a great sound effect, male figure skaters not to trying to
“flame”, and a singing interlude from “Phantom of the Opera”. His “tour
de force” piece is something he’s worked up called the Love Master where
he “bags the beaver” with lewd and raunchy jokes that will crack you up.
“I got four inches but some women don’t like it that wide” he opines as
he takes you through a cyber sex routine that guarantees “if you log in
you’re going to yahoo!”
Shoemaker is less satisfying when he takes the route of “fart jokes” and
“machine gun noises” from his audience which feels prolonged.
Nevertheless, there’s so much good material that you can’t help but
walking away with a feeling that your time and money has been well
spent.
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