Vaughn Rounds Up Laughs Out West

Rebecca Smith, staff writer

Hilarious. There is no other way to describe him, and now Vince Vaughn is carrying on that tradition with his brand-new comedy tour, Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show.

The show took flight on Sept. 12 and will end Oct. 11, a simple month-long tour through the southwest part of the United States.

Along with Vaughn (“Dodgeball - A True Underdog Story”, “Wedding Crashers”, “Old School”, and “Rudy”) are some of the most talented comedians to date.

The show begins with Ahmed Ahmed, a Muslim Egyptian comic whose main criteria is the life of a Muslim post 9-11. Throughout his performance, the crowd heard jokes regarding the headache of flying as a Muslim after September 11 and the basic transformation from his life in Egypt to life in the United States.  As his Lubbock debut unfolded, the crowd could not stop laughing. Ahmed has made several small onscreen appearances, including MTV’s “Punk’d” and “Swingers”. After leading the crowd into hysteria, he revealed his latest album release, “Ahmed-Ahmed, I Believe I Can’t Fly.”

After setting the stage, it wasn’t long at all until comedian, John Caparulo, knocked the crowd into hysterics. It is nothing shot of an amazing comical talent who could turn simple, everyday things, into cry-fests of laughter. Caparulo’s masculine, modern edge added to the immense amount of comical genius in his performance. However, it must be said that this comedian does not meet the basic, wholesome, family comedy criteria. Nevertheless, his humor had everyone’s heads back with laughter.

Next in line was a simple reminder of Vaughn’s outrageous beginnings as an actor. As one will find out after seeing the show, not all stars are automatically launched into stardom. Vaughn’s career started out as an underdeveloped actor on the ABC-TV After School Specials. Helping him display this hilarious beginning was actor/comedian Peter Billingsley, who also starred as Ralphie Parker in “A Christmas Story”. Billingsley, also co-star of the After School Specials, helped amuse the audience with a very surprising clip from one of the specials.

Another comedian, Bret Ernst, soon followed. His portrayal of the modern club made a big hit with the crowd. His comedy was very closely related to the average life of most of the audience, who were college-age adults. Ernst’s interpretation of the life of a club was one that the crowd will never forget. What makes his comedy so funny is the reality behind it.  The finale of his performance was based around separate countries around the world as people attending the same club. This comical encounter with politics and basic partying was too much for the crowd to take.

Next, Vaughn asked one of his co-star’s from his latest film, “Wedding Crashers”, to do some paintings for the audience. This, however, caused some confusion until the audience saw that the co-star was Keir O’Donnell, who played Todd Cleary in “Wedding Crashers”, who, in the movie, played a strange man obsessed with Vaughn’s character. In the movie, O’Donnell’s character had also portrayed a very accomplished, yet disturbed, artist. When Vaughn asked the audience for recommendations on paintings that O’Donnell could draw, several things were suggested. However, all that O’Donnell would draw were paintings resembling those he had drawn Vaughn’s character in “Wedding Crashers”.

The last of the comedians, Sebastian Maniscalo, was instantly a crowd favorite. His bright, upbeat nature brought a comical rendition to today’s male. As Maniscalo showed the audience his true talent, fits of laughter could not be overcome.

As the show ended, Vaughn made several jokes himself, and even made slight comments about his and Jennifer Aniston’s ongoing relationship. The show ended with Vaughn and the audience singing the Neil Diamond hit “Sweet Caroline” as karaoke.

The crowd left discussing the performance with total admiration for Vaughn, Ahmed, Caparulo, Billingsley, Ernst, O’Donnell, and Maniscalo, who had proved their worth through the outstanding performance.