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It’s not that far-fetched to see a country music act hosting a comedy special.
Brad Paisley has co-hosted the CMA Awards since 2008 with plenty of awards banter, and between releasing 12 albums and 19 #1 country songs, the 44-year-old singer and guitarist also has appeared on TV comedies ranging from South Park to Two and a Half Men.
Two years ago, Brad Paisley fronted a comedy showcase at the Wild West Comedy Festival in Nashville – and he returned two years later to the festival with three of the comedians from that 2015 showcase (Nate Bargatze, Jon Reep and Sarah Tiana) plus two other stand-ups (John Heffron and Mike E. Winfield) to participate in Brad Paisley’s Comedy Rodeo on Netflix.
Hold the rodeo. Instead of eight seconds, each of the comedians must buck Paisley’s audience for up to eight minutes, sometimes while Paisley himself remains onstage.
After an utterly unnecessary opening sketch featuring a mustachioed David Hasselhoff and his KITT car from Knight Rider – “It’s a long story” except it’s not, really, since Hasselhoff had just made a cameo in one of Paisley’s music videos – we cut to Zanies comedy club in Nashville. Fun behind-the-scenes fact: The first audience at this taping were such fans of Paisley’s that they seemed upset that each of the five stand-up comedians would “interrupt” their intimate country music concert. Producers made sure to clue the second audience into the exact nature of the event, which falls somewhere between a stand-up comedy showcase and a variety hour. The 44-year-old Paisley opens the concert with a modified medley of his songbook, explaining “the director’s cut” to hits of his such as “She’s Everything” and “Last Time for Everything” with humorous lyrics that he had to scrap for the record. He even challenges his audience: “Name one of my hits. I’ll tell you what it used to be.” When someone requested “Celebrity,” Paisley slipped one of Donald Trump’s most infamous quotes into the lyrics.
Musicians know how to keep their fans entertained between songs, and Paisley’s no exception. He prepared a bit on Beauty and the Beast, performed a jokey song about “First Cousins,” and pretended to forget the lyrics to a song he wrote for his actress wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, “Ode De Toilet (The Toilet Seat Song).”
As for the professional comedy?
Paisley has assembled a quintet of stand-ups, four of whom (Bargatze, Tiana, Winfield and Reep) grew up south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and two former winners of Last Comic Standing (Heffron and Reep).
Bargatze, a Nashville native, enjoyed the hometown surroundings. “I am from here. Born and raised. Back when it wasn’t cool.” If you’ve seen Bargatze’s recent half-hour from earlier this summer on Netflix, then there’s nothing new to see here; if not, then his seven minutes on Southern traffic, distinctive relatives and why he doesn’t eat free range chicken will make you seek it out next after finishing Paisley’s hour.
Heffron and Winfield both offer their own solutions for surviving spats with spouts. Heffron finds distracting his wife with dance moves or sudden surrender works best, whereas Winfield segues into one of Paisley’s songs, “I’m Gonna Miss Her,” which he attempts to duet with the singer on after mocking his “straight gangster” decision to choose a fishing trip over his lady love.
Tiana, a Georgia gal long since relocated to Los Angeles, shines in the breakout performance here, not only because she’s the lone woman onstage, but also because it’s her first real chance to show off her comedy chops outside of a Roast Battle. Though Tiana does manage to get a dig in at Paisley, too. As he leaves the stage, she zings him: “I like your shirt, does it come in men’s?” Her set breaks down her plight as a funny single woman in her 30s who cares more about cake than she does in impressing a first date. Which does, however, lead her to acknowledge in wonder of her fellow cast mates here: “Can you believe out of all them idiots, I’m the one that’s never been married?”
Reep, introduced by Paisley as if “the kid from Deliverance grew up,” headlines the comedy portion with a singular bit about the time he and his brother found their father’s hidden porn tape in the 1980s, and what happened when Reep couldn’t get the porn channel’s whistling theme music out of his head.
Paisley brings it all home with all the comedians joining him onstage to ask a series of silly questions, punctuated by the chorus line, “I’m just asking for a friend.”
Earlier this year, Paisley released a music video for his song, “selfie#theinternetisforever,” to his Facebook fans, and he performs it live here.
Neither Netflix nor this comedy-variety hour might linger forever in your memories. But it’ll do just fine for now.
Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.
