Chris Porter is the comedian who should have won Last Comic Standing 4. But the odds simply weren't in his favor. Not only was he running against Josh Blue — a moderately funny, highly charismatic, cerebral palsy-suffering comic who could make fun of himself with practiced skill — but his material was a tad too racy for primetime network television and its PG-13 audience. The spunky, self-proclaimed Willy Wonka look-alike from Kansas City made one too many jokes about sex and drugs, likening the pre-intercourse discovery of a birth control patch on his partner to getting batteries with a Christmas day toy ("you can play with her right out of the box!"); complaining about the propaganda-like quality of anti-drug commercials and admitting to being a history buff ("which means I have a bong and the History Channel."). But I've also heard him talk about Costco selling caskets, cars with crappy-sounding horns, hating France, tampon commercials, the drinking habits of Catholics and plenty else. You name it, he's probably got something to say about it and you can find out what this weekend at the Tampa Improv. May 10-13, 8 p.m. Thurs., 8 and 10:30 p.m. Fri., 7:30 and 10 p.m. Sat., 7 p.m. Sun., 1600 E. Eighth Ave., Centro Ybor, Ybor City, $12-$16, 813-864-4000, tampaimprov.com.
This article appears in May 9-15, 2007.