Theatre
Review • Brad Garrett
from “Everybody Loves Raymond” performs
at the OC Pavilion in Santa Ana.
Bradley Zint / Online-Forty Niner
OC Pavilion new night hot spot in Santa Ana
By
Bradley Zint
Online Forty-Niner
Opinion Editor
In a town known for being devoid of very nice establishments, Santa Ana’s
OC Pavilion is truly a “diamond in the rough.”
Using an old Bank of America building, developer Mike Harrah has transformed
the location into a venue that now serves drinks instead of loans, laughs instead
of deposit slips and music instead of checks.
Southern California should be glad he did. The OC Pavilion is without a doubt
one of the classiest venues in Orange County.
What you’ll find is a venue topped off with a restaurant, Ambrosia, and
a nice vault-turned-lounge downstairs appropriately named The Vault VIP Lounge.
The Vault even contains the original bank vault door of the former B of A,
which serves as a nice steel reminder of the venue’s past. Of course,
nowadays light jazz fills The Vault instead of security cameras and behind
the vault door you’ll find more cocktail-sipping guests instead of valuables.
As for the stage itself, the venue holds only 500, making it an intimate setting
without any bad seats. The OC Pavilion also has put a great deal of time and
effort into using the latest lighting, sound and video technology and it definitely
shows.
It doesn’t take a keen eye to notice the amount of painstaking detail
put into this venue, from the ground seats themselves to the illumination above.
Everything looks and feels, to put it simply, nice.
The show itself was no disappointment, either. First on the list was comedian
Jimmy Burns, a former schoolteacher and Nebraska native. His comedy was clean
and related to growing up, his marriage and even the pains of being Catholic.
According to him, weekly confessionals even promote sins themselves.
And of course, when joking about the pains of growing old, he didn’t
fail to mention the notices from the AARP and fears of going bald. Burns’ style
was a good opening act and a nice alternative to the more outlandish comedy
later.
After Burns was OC Pavilion Chairman, Santa Ana native and Righteous Brothers
band member Bill Medley. His impressive vocal and piano talents shined with
a short set of blues music. He ended with a rendition of the famous Righteous
Brothers song, “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling.”
Lastly was the main event, comedian Brad Garrett, who Medley jokingly introduced
as the “Ninth Funniest Man on Earth.”
Whoever the first eight are must be pretty hilarious because experienced comedian
Garrett brought the house down multiple times.
Garrett, best known as Robert Barone on the popular TV series “Everybody
Loves Raymond,” couldn’t help but joke about his relative decline
in stardom from network television to a small, relatively unknown town in Orange
County when he said, “Where are we? Santa Ana? What a major career move
this is!”
He didn’t fail to lovingly mention his former “Raymond” colleague
either as he declared, “It’s great to be on a stage where I don’t
have to kiss Ray Romano’s ass.”
His comedy routine included almost everything under the sun and could not help
but point out Vice President Dick Cheney’s recent quail hunting accident.
It’s no mystery why Garrett has won Emmys for his talents; his improvisation
and impersonation skills are a sight to see and hear. He really knew how to
play off the audience. A couple in the front row was the butt end of many jokes
because they were from ritzy, stereotypical “O.C.” Laguna Beach.
Garrett even remarked how a man can cheat on the road without really “cheating.” He
said to just hook up with someone who looks like your wife to remind you of
her.
Garrett didn’t omit any penis jokes, which somehow never fail to be funny
despite the fact half the audience members have one and use it daily.
To close his routine, Garrett showed the audience a blooper reel of “Raymond” outtakes
and left the stage to a packed house standing ovation.
So, Cal State Long Beach student, you now have a new place to go that’s
not too far away when you feel like stepping it up a notch. When you’re
ready to sport a sport coat or cocktail dress, head on over to Santa Ana to
the OC Pavilion.
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