It was a great night of comedy last night in Albany as comedian Chris Rock brought his Total Blackout Tour to the Palace Theatre with a couple of very welcome surprises!

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Last night comedian Chris Rock brought his Total Blackout Tour to the Palace Theatre in Albany and boy were we treated to an awesome show! Prior to heading to the Palace I didn't really know much of what to expect from the performance except that Chris was returning to stand up after a bit of a hiatus to test out some new material for his upcoming Netflix specials.

Which kind of explains the no cell phone policy for the night. Basically as soon as the show was announced ticket holders and the general public were informed that no cell phone would be permitted at the show. Chris actually took this one step further and brought in a company that locks your phone in these crazy magnetic bags that you get to keep with you throughout the show but wouldn't be able to access.

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chris rock cell phone lock
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This proved to be both a blessing and a curse. Due to the time it took for ushers to lock up the phones the line was still well out into the street by the shows 8 o'clock start time. Luckily they pushed back the start time so ticket holders who were in line wouldn't miss out. At first it was a bit awkward knowing your phone was in your hand but not being able to shoot a text, scroll through social, or snap a pic while I was waiting for the show to begin. Ultimately though it was a nice change of pace to be able to solely focus on the show without the distraction of my phone. Not to mention actually getting to see the show happening in front of me instead of though everyone's tiny grainy cell phone screens.

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Then the show started with the announcer telling us the night would be filled with a few surprises and the first was our host Ardie Fuqua who you may know from occasionally appearing on Louie C.K.'s series "Louie", as "Gang Member #5" in Die Hard with a Vengeance (ha ha), or most recently as one of the comedians that was in the car with Tracy Morgan when a Walmart Truck crashed into their limo. Ardie killed it hyping up the crowd at the beginning of the show and in retrospect I think he actually had some of the better jokes of the night.

After Ardi's set he informed us of surprise #2 ... Dave Attell, from "Insomnia with Dave Attell", would be taking the stage next! Dave definitely went in hard on us last night trying to see how far he could push the crowd and evidently we were not easily offended even when took a pretty hard shot at Schenectady a got a little more than inappropriate.

Following Dave's set was a short intermission and then the main event, Chris Rock! Chris came out swinging and spent a roughly an hour and half entertaining us with jokes that touched on a slew of serious topics like gun control, racism, and even his recent divorce. I wish I could hook you up on some of his jokes but I would totally ruin them and I feel like you would much rather hear them from him anyway so keep an eye out for his new specials coming to Netflix!

All in all I'd say that I really enjoyed myself and could definitely see myself taking in more comedy action should it roll through the Capital Region.


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