Search - Redd Foxx :: Live & Funny, Vol. 1

Lounge Foxx

Benedict J. Likens | Whiting, IN USA | 03/14/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"With piano accompaniment, Redd Foxx relaxes and effortlessly cracks up yet another audience. His humor rings down the years and makes me, a guy who was just in his teens when Foxx was coming out of his prime, laugh my hind-end off.It's a free and easy evening, customers are ordering drinks, waitresses are asking Foxx what he himself will be imbibing, he notices some folks he knows when they amble in (including Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., whom Foxx recognizes as "the man who gave me the opportunity to be in Cotton Comes to Harlem") and as for the folks who dare to try and get into the act, including one overly zealous African-American gentleman, he chides, "Don't try to get into the show. You ain't in show business. Go someplace else and hurt a white act." No one is immune from his jibes, including a Japanese-American gentleman whom Foxx gracefully acknowledges and says "I had so much fun in Japan, I hope we fight 'em again!"Throughout the proceedings, however, no one is made uncomfortable. His rebuttals to his hecklers are never cruel and the overall mood of the recording is very light. The jokes are off-color, but far from obscene (whatever that means). Foxx's timing and friendly way of dealing with his audience are things which comedians today would be wise to pick up on. Foxx was one of the true masters of his craft and, for the most part, his delivery was creative and often very subtle. Half of his effectiveness is his dancing around intimate subjects rather than trying to hit the audience over the head with them.If you're a fan of Redd Foxx, or if you're just someone who would like to be put in a relaxed, happy mood, then this inexpensive disc is the one you should check out. Out of the entire Live and Dirty/Funny series, this and Vol. II are the most effective. Have fun!"