Chris P.
Yelp
It's not always about there food or drink, though it's good for that as well. My wife and I took in the comedy show last night (12/30/2022) {Dead Horse Comedy Productions} on the 3rd floor of Crystal City Sports Pub on 23rd street. 8 PM showtime, we arrived about 7:30 PM and amazing there was parking in the sports pub parking lot right across the street, score one !
My wife had an Italian coffee and I had a couple of Devils Backbone drafts, and we shared some onion rings during the show (we had eaten dinner at home prior to heading out - leftovers again !). My wife enjoyed her coffee (with kahlua), and the beer was cold. The onion rings, not as crisp as I like but overall ok. Ice water was promptly delivered as we sat down and before we ordered drinks. Our server (Heather) was great. She brought water, refilled when needed and checked back when my beer was near empty. and at the end of the show when I asked for the check she brought it quick, took my card and returned (a lot of places need to recognize the end of the meal when someone asks for the check they would kind of like it in a reasonable time). Heather was closing out a lot of tables and did it well. In fact all the servers I saw moved around the many tables. Score two for service !
The show - opened by one of the show producers (Danny Fernandez); he introduced the comics talked about this being the end of the 1st year of dead horse comedy, and he told a few jokes (not the best - nervous, either because he is, or because his wife was watching).
The comics:
Matt Chrzanowski opened with a short set. Not bad but not particularly memorable.
Shelley Kim was next up - not bad either and I could see her getting better and better, a bit self deprecating and at times difficult to understand. Needled a guy in the audience who said he had a thing for Asian women. It was funny, but maybe took up a bit too much time of her set.
Sandi Benton had a longer set, and I really enjoyed it. She was funny and told some good stories about dating and her life.
Last of the opening acts was Jack Trimber with a very short set. Kind of a blink and you miss it set, and I blinked.
So score again for the opening acts (partially) and up to 2 1/2
Prior to the headliner was the 2nd producer of Dead Horse Comedy - Joey Coon. Man I liked him. A good set, jokes about being in the Army, needling the Marines (catering to the veterans in the crowd) were highlights. I would see him again for sure. Score again, up to 3 1/2 !
The Headliner - Winston Hodges. Former special education teacher and hyped his Autism awareness bracelets at the very end of his set in a very non-obtrusive manner and I bought one (We're Already Freakin' Aware). First up, I will see him again. He was good. Riffed on some earlier jokes from the opening acts, some sold hits, broke out his work book at the end and had people call out numbers (well raise your hand and he'll call on you and then you pick a number). I liked his 'jokes' about his family and their perspective on gun control - he actually might have something there. If the liberals take over all the gun ranges and use up all the timeslots to make others wait 10 hours in line to shoot, that might be an effective manner to get legislators pushing for gun control because their constituency doesn't want the liberals at the ranges making them wait - funny but maybe it would work. He was good and effective on his long set. And he was nice to chat with after the show (both my wife and I talked to him {my wife is a special ed teacher}).
So score again, and Winston gets the final 1 1/2 points, so a 5 point review for Crystal City Sports Pub and Dead Horse Comedy (well done Danny & Joey, we'll be back for another show in 2023)!!