After having open-heart surgery several months ago,comedian Robin Williams is back on track, back on tour, and funnier than ever. Taking a break certainly seemed to recharge his batteries…not that he needed charging. Robin’s frenetic energy has always been one of the things that made him my favorite comedian–and it was in full force last night at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, where he made his South Florida stop on his “Weapons of Self Destruction” tour.

He walked onstage only to be greeted by a standing ovation from most of the audience, and went right into a set about the Hard Rock Casino and the Seminole Tribe–how they’ve had to change their names to things like “Chief Always Roll a Seven” and the estranged tribal son “All In”.  Like any great comedian, he did his homework on South Florida and worked the local jokes into his intro, heckling some of the latecomers and picking on the “hot women” with plastic surgery (accompanied by cameras panning in on the audience, displaying on two large screens on stage). He made a few quips about Governor Charlie Crist and his tan (”he’s darker than Obama”), and joked about how the Seminole Tribe could buy back Manhattan–”oh wait, looks like they already did, New York is here already” and of course, talking about our weather (”you folks down here know what global warming is, you’ve been living with it for years.”)

While I was not impressed with the constant dropping of the “f” bomb (which thank goodness eased off after a few minutes, where he still used it quite a bit but not every other word), Williams jokes spanned topics ranging from hurricanes and natural disasters (”I live in California, God’s etch-a-sketch”) to technology and Twittering, GPS systems, his surgery, politics, marriage, drugs, the Pope, pets, and of course, sex and porn.  In typical Williams style–and another one of the reasons he’s so top notch–he blended in his phenomenal character voices and impersonations with his jokes, never missing a beat.

During a great bit about people who have been married more than once should have to lose a body part each time around, he slipped into a set on same-sex marriage, Mormons and polygamy (”Mormons giving marital advice is like Octomom running a planned parenthood organization”).

He did surprise me by throwing in a couple of trite, we’ve-heard-em-before one liners (”Pregnant women shouldn’t drink–isn’t that how you got pregnant in the first place?”) but the rest of his performance was so damn funny, I didn’t care.

One of most clever bits was about how a committee designed the human reproductive system–and of course the comedy would be lost in translation if I attempted to describe this, so I won’t even try. Watching Robin Williams has so much to do with his voices and physical comedy in addition to what he’s saying that it’s neary impossible to describe him and do him any justice.

He finished the show, then came back for one small encore, which was a phenomenal impersonation of Walter Cronkite telling a “blue” joke. I won’t spoil the fun by telling the joke, but it was fantastic, made better only by Williams’ impression of Cronkite. Didn’t see the punchline coming, that’s for sure!

I literally didn’t stop laughing the entire show, and the audience around me was having a similar experience. It’s a non-stop laughing, eyes-tearing, practically peeing-in-your-pants heckuva good time, and I highly recommend you get to the Hard Rock Live tonight to catch his second show. (Be forewarned, though, this is DEFINITELY an adult content, R-rated show–not for the weak of heart or the prude.)

For more info:  Call 1-800-745-3000 or visit the Hard Rock Live website.

We’ve all heard the phrase you can’t teach an old dog new tricks…well, I beg to differ! And I didn’t really even try to teach the dog–or in this case, my husband–he just taught himself the new trick all on his own!

For those of you who know me, you know I’m big on surprising other people whenever I can–especially for birthdays. And every year for my husband’s birthday, I plan a surprise trip somewhere or find some really unique experience for him–like the Dream Car Tour or like the Richard Petty Experience, or swimming with the Dolphins at Discovery Cove.

And every year for my birthday…no surprises for me. I usually have to plan my own birthday fun.

Now I’m not complaining, just stating the facts.

So a few weeks ago, my hubby Graham tells me to leave the night of December 14th open, because he has a surprise for me. Hmmmm…I’m thinking, what can he be up to? What’s happening on a Sunday night around town that I don’t already know about?

And I decide to just wait and see and not ruin his surprise…but I have to admit, I kind of had an idea of what it could be–and I hoped I was right!

So Sunday rolls around and we’re rushing to leave the house on time (I was given a drop dead departure time of 5:00pm) when he takes me next door to our neighbors. Which confirmed in my mind that I had discovered the secret surprise–I thought maybe he got tickets to go see K.C. and the Sunshine Band, because I’d gotten an email from the Hard Rock Live about that event coming up–and it turns out, I was right! Because the only thing my neighbors usually like to do is go to concerts. And they love the old school 70’s and 80’s bands.

So along with 3 other couples (our next door neighbors and their family and friends), I was whisked away via mini-van to go see not only K.C., but also Kool and the Gang! I have to admit, I really wasn’t very excited about seeing Kool and the Gang, but I sure changed my mind after that show.

Kool and the Gang

What a far cry from my experience at the Jingle Ball the night before!! I went from feeling like the oldest person there, to just plain feeling OLD. In a nostalgic way, that is. Because I certainly was one of the younger attendees in that audience.

To begin with, Kool and the Gang had about 12 band members–not all orginal–but let me tell you, Chris Brown and those youngsters out there could learn a thing or two about performing from THESE guys! They had two separate drummers (each with their own drum sets) and two saxophone players, a trumpet player, and a trombone player…of course a few guys on guitar and then a bunch of singers (one of course was the original Kool, Robert “Kool” Bell, and also his brother Khalis Bayyan, their longtime friends Dennis “DT” Thomas and George “Funky” Brown. )

These guys are no spring chickens–but they can still groove with the best of them. The energy level was through the roof, and the audience was dancing and singing right along–myself included! It was one big dance party. They sang and danced their hearts out to all the hits, including “Celebrate”, “Get Down On It”, “Ladies Night”, “Jungle Boogie”, “Joanna”, “Hollywood Swinging”, and “Too Hot”. I was actually sorry to see them go after their hour was up.

KC in all his glory

Then came K.C.–aka Harry Wayne Casey–I couldn’t wait to see what he was going to do, because the stage hands had set up some brightly colored feather boas and I was wondering if that was for him?? Turns out they were for his dancers and back-up singers–which I believed were a ploy to get us to look at someone other than him. Because K.C.? Hasn’t aged too well–and he’s the first to admit it–in his comment that he started playing 35 years ago, and that he’s now 58–and to quote “What the hell happened??” He asked if there were any kids in the audience, and explained that he was “your mother’s In Sync” and that in 30 years this is what Justin Timberlake could look like. Great sense of humor, K.C.!

So he’s a little older, a little heavier, and has less hair…and doesn’t have the greatest rhythm–but he knows how to work an audience and put on a helluva good show! I was really impressed at how he got everyone out of their seats and really kept the fun and energy levels high. His dancers did some fun routines with cute costumes. His horn section was excellent–all very young guys–and he had one drummer on a regular set of drums and another on congos/bongos–and they were phenomenal. The drum solo from David Simmons was explosive, to say the least.

He sang through hits like “I’m Your Boogie Man”, “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty)”, “Keep it Comin’ Love”, “Boogie Shoes”, and “Give It Up “, and when he slowed it down for “Please Don’t Go” I was catapulted back to the days of my feathered hair and weekends at the roller rink, complete with my brush in my back pocket (This is a “Couple’s Skate”!)

All in all the night was a very tasty slice of nostalgia pie for me…and my husband definitely got a gold star for giving me a GREAT surprise for our anniversary. Maybe not quite as exciting as driving a Ferrari, but definitely up there in my Top 10 Most Fun Concerts List.

So you see…an old dog CAN learn new tricks…and sometimes it’s great fun to watch the old dogs doing their old tricks too.