A former Miami resident himself, Daniel Tosh was clearly not afraid to offend the community at The Fillmore Miami Beach on Saturday, saying sarcastically, “let’s just watch 30 for 30 and pretend it’s the 80s.”
The star of the increasingly popular Tosh.0 on Comedy Central came to Miami as a part of his “Tosh Tour Twenty Ten” with much of the same cynical societal commentary that fans of the show have come to know and love.
Only at a Daniel Tosh show can you see a comic single out a drunken heckler in the audience and literally kick him out of the show, having security escort him to the exit.
The magic of Tosh’s comedy is that he does not hesitate to offend, finding humor in material that his peers shy away from in fear of alienating a mainstream audience.
Tosh covered a variety of controversial topics, including Sept. 11, Hurricane Katrina and abortion, just to name a few.
His antics began even before the show did- while the audience was still filling the seats, Tosh made several trips back and forth across the stage riding a bicycle, the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up to conceal his face.
The two openers for the show, Jasper Redd and Matt Fulchiron, served as an entertaining appetizer, but the discrepancy in talent was clear as Tosh’s polished delivery far surpassed the efforts of the previous acts.
While watching Tosh perform over the course of his set, I couldn’t help but remember the famous quote by the late George Carlin: “I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.”
Whether Tosh has heard these words or not, he certainly fulfills Carlin’s vision through the audacity of his comedy.
His harsh social observations act as a series of hyperboles, not meant to be taken literally, but instead to highlight the ignorance that he notices in others.
Tosh has a rare quality among modern stand-up comics- he readily gives us his perspective on the world, without the filter that would lessen its impact.
Trevor Maxim may be contacted at tmaxim@themiamihurricane.com.