As much as regular local events are essential, it’s of real value to Milwaukee’s burgeoning comedy scene to also have a reliable stream of notable touring standups passing through town and, in general, getting people excited about experiencing the art form live, but there the city runs into a problem of infrastructure. We’ve got plenty of grand theaters for the big-time headliners and enough hole-in-the-wall clubs for your underground types, yet suffer from a lack of midsize venues of the sort that would accommodate those comics who’ve built a cult following but aren’t yet canonized superstars (i.e. the best ones). Shank Hall is one of the few clubs that fits the bill, and the venue snags its fair share of talented standups, though sometimes its comedy shows fall under the radar, leaving this appearance by W. Kamau Bell sadly under-attended, even for a Sunday night. Still, if the crowd was small, Bell killed it just the same.
Getting the evening started was Milwaukee comedy staple and Second City alum Greg Bach (prime opening slots being another local benefit of hosting more national acts), who delivered a breezy 15 minutes that included entertaining recollections about his crappiest childhood toys and the confession that he purchased the P90X workout system only to be informed that he was too out of shape to even use it. Next up was Los Angeles-based Zach Sherwin, who walks the always-tricky tightrope between comedy and rapping, employing both of those skills as writer and regular guest on the popular web series Epic Rap Battles of History. Tonight his set skewed toward the standup side of things, including a story about discovering how touchy Madison audiences can be when you joke about cheese curds, but his experience as a Jewish MC did come into play during a hilarious dissection of Nicki Minaj’s controversial “Only” video.
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Bell emerged to all the applause the unimpressive-yet-enthusiastic crowd could muster and launched into a long set tackling any number of big subjects, starting with the abhorrent racial segregation of a city like Milwaukee, each of which was quickly cut down to size by his utterly fearless, but never vitriolic, brand of socio-political commentary. Whatever the subject matter, he freely admits to not having all the answers, but never pulls his punches either, as when he suggested Bill Cosby deal with those resurfacing rape allegations the same way Michael Jackson did, by dying. The low turnout did create a certain intimacy; at one point some audience members voiced their dismay over his FX series, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, being unceremoniously canceled midseason, so he went around giving hugs to anyone in need of consolation, but it’s ultimately a bummer Bell didn’t get the warmer welcome he richly deserved.
