Jim Norton had the audience rolling with his comedy!
Live Nation presented the Sirius XM Jim Norton Mouthful of Shame Tour at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair on Saturday, March 5, 2016. The sold out crowd was in stitches from the first joke until the last.
The Wellmont Theater, which was fortunate to score Norton’s only stop in northern New Jersey, and the 2300 fans who packed the Wellmont were not disappointed. For the thousands of fans who were unlucky and could not get tickets to the sold out performance, from here he heads out to the Egyptian Room in Indianapolis on March 10 and beyond to 22 other locations.
Norton’s unique adult performance was honest, in your face and very close to what the audience was thinking about but too afraid say.
Norton didn’t need any props; he is a master performer who guides the audience with his dynamic facial expressions, physical contortions and deadpan stares. Just when he gets the crowd rolling with laughter he stops and with a simple look at the audience, he turns the tables on the crowd, making them become the joke.
The EMT’s were standing by on the very likely chance several of the fans would actually bust a gut (it happens). While the bartenders were also standing by for the simple reason that after laughing so hard many of the audience members needed another drink – or three.
For the unfamiliar, Norton’s style, while adult in subject, is much more than a collection of off-color jokes and sophomoric comedic monologues. Norton is a comedic genius who has proven his mastery over the unpredictable elements a live audience can throw at a performer.
Think of Jim Norton as the combination of three of the finest comedians ever to have practiced the art of live performances: George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Robert Klein. Add in Norton’s own twisted sense of humor and his take on what’s going on in our community, and you have comedic gold. Caitlyn Jenner, Kanye West, big butts and parental sex were all fair game for Norton’s stand-up routine.
Norton masterfully pulled the audience into the performance early on and fed off of their recollections on seeing their parents fornicating for the first time. Inviting the audience into the performance is a very dangerous maneuver and is usually avoided by most live performers who are unprepared because it could go irrecoverably wrong. Norton’s nearly 20 years of live performance experience provided him with the confidence and depth of material where he welcomed the unpredictability of the impromptu exchange with the fans. Norton rolled the exchange right back into the performance and turned it into yet another crowd pleasing burst of laughter.
Jim Norton’s persona and mannerisms are a perfect fit for his adopted home of New York City, but for the local fans at the Wellmont Theater, Norton seemed a bit more familiar which is why his humor resonated to the bone. Norton is a Jersey-Boy originally from Bayonne and North Brunswick, making him right at home with the Wellmont Theater.
Tickets to future shows on the Sirius XM Jim Norton Mouthful of Shame Tour can be found at jimnorton.com/tour.
To view more photos of the concert by Scott Kennedy, please go to montclairdispatch.smugmug.com..
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