Comedy Upgrade

Television clip shows are notoriously unwatchable, except for The Soup and, if you hate yourself, TMZ. Television clip shows that focus on Internet clips, however, are the hot new terrible T.V. idea, and they are succeeding on all counts. Imagine being a host introducing walking rabbits and wedding parties dancing to Chris Brown -- you’d need amphetamines. But like The Soup’s Joel McHale, Daniel Tosh is an exception: His new Web clip show, Tosh.0, is not bad. Sometimes it’s good. It has to do with improv: Tosh (like McHale, and most clearly not like the godfather of this shit, Bob Saget) is free to riff on his own, getting away from the damaging effects of professional joke writers. Tosh is strong on the standup stage as well, spitting out long, schizophrenic jokes that break apart and spin around the room, leaving everyone baffled and giggly. “Do you like how I start jokes with mass appeal and continue until only six people have a clue what I’m talking about?” he asked a crowd a few years back. “That’s not a good style. That doesn’t make you famous.”
Aug. 20-22, 8 & 10:15 p.m., 2009