Three words sum up Charlie Murphy’s weekend Utah performances: money well spent. ---

Anyone who didn’t go see Murphy at Wiseguys in West Valley City this weekend missed a helluva show. Nearly all four shows sold out, and the audiences were extremely responsive—not only to Murphy, but to the openers as well.

The host was Timm Thorn, whose ability to hold his own as a middle-aged white guy representing Utah against a crowd eager to see Murphy was quite impressive. His routine pulled the best of his well-known (to Wiseguys regulars anyway) bits about being in his mid-40s, and the ridiculousness of white kids from Utah who pretend to be gangsta. He earned a steady stream of laughs from the entire crowd, and provided an excellent set-up for the night. Featured comic Paul Farmer—aka Freez Luv, from New York—has been opening for Murphy for quite a while, so his style is very much in sync with the headliner’s. His presence was strong and confident, and he was so funny that I would have been completely satisfied paying the $25 just to see him.

But then, Murphy came on stage, and the place went wild. His act was refined, and his timing was perfect. He never lost his momentum, or the crowd's attention. One of the employees at Wiseguys made the mistake of taking a picture of Murphy toward the end of his final show, and after that there was no stopping the barrage of flashes that followed from an otherwise perfectly-behaved audience.