Tommy Tomb.  Where to begin...

First off, Theme Park Adventure does have a personal friendship with Jeff Tucker (Tommy Tomb) and other folks involved with this show.  It's very hard not to be biased in situations like this, because you know how much your friends have put into the project, etc.  At TPA, we pride ourselves on being as honest and straight-shooting as possible, telling it like it is.  It is our promise that we have done that here with this review from Haunt.

There's no one that would argue that when Tommy Tomb made its Scary Farm debut in 2004 inside the Cloud 9 Ballroom (or whatever it's called these days), it was not very well received.  And it's also important to note that these early shows in October were the only ones we attended.  The show was vastly tuned up and re-worked, resulting in a finished product that we were only able to view via video.

For those who are new to TPA or the whole Haunt scene, Jeff Tucker is a very talented gentleman that writes his butt off for Knott's Berry Farm year-round.  And he's genuinely hilarious.  Jeff's a huge component for The Hanging each year as well as other big-time laughs at the Scary Farm.

In 2004, Tucker was given the green light to produce his own comedy show, and he was of course, very excited and ready to rock and roll with it.  The concept that came out of the brain storm sessions was Tommy Tomb, a washed-up, dead (literally) lounge performer from beyond the grave.  In life, this guy would have played the worst of the worst dives and, as rumor has it, single-handedly brought about the destruction of several Las Vegas resorts that went ahead and booked him.  Whether this was due to his ghastly, off-color humor or ability to pass gas explosively on command - the underworld may never know.

Tommy Tomb, back from beyond, has been hired to work Knott's Halloween Haunt.  He's rude, he doesn't have much talent and did we mention that he farts a lot?

So that was the concept.  Coupled with a tiki lounge, it sounded like something that couldn't miss.  Knowing Jeff personally and knowing how quick and truly funny he is - we were very excited about seeing this show during opening week.

When we entered the Tiki Lounge of Terror, we were surprised by the seating arrangement.  A few rows of chairs lined the floor, closest to the stage.  The rest of the room however, was filled with large round tables, forcing guests to either face each other, or turn their seats away from the table; it was an awkward arrangement, and the first thing we worried about was that this type of seating arrangement would take peoples' attention away from the stage and foster discussion amongst guests while the show was going on.

To our horror (not the good kind you expect from Haunt), that is exactly what started happening.  Once the show began, we could see people still talking, looking at park maps, deciding what to do next, etc.  Almost instantly, we knew there was a big problem at hand.

Once people did take notice of the performance, they'd laugh and say, "What's up with this guy?" and go right back to socializing.  It was no good.

Those that did pay attention seemed to enjoy Tomb's on-stage antics and naughty one-liners.  However, a lot of people in the audience - mostly teens - didn't appear to "get it".  They were like, "This dude sucks!" while not realizing that was the point - there are no GOOD lounge acts, really.  Most suck and the good ones are mediocre at best; that is exactly what Tommy Tomb was poking fun at - unfortunately, that point seemed to escape a lot of folks.

We saw the Tommy Tomb show twice during its opening week at Haunt.  Both times, we witnessed the same problems - people not paying attention, and then when they did, they were trying to take the show "seriously" - which would obviously leave someone disappointed with the quality of performance.

Jeff and his team are smart guys - and so, during the second week of Haunt, big changes were made to the show; they knew what was and what wasn't working for them and were determined to sort it all out and create the show Jeff had originally envisioned.

The first thing to go were the round tables; in talking with Jeff one night after a performance, he knew immediately that was a major no-no and that it needed to be corrected immediately.

And it was.

Not only were the tables replaced by rows and rows of chairs, the show was tightened up and most importantly - the powers-that-be allowed Jeff to really come out swinging.  At a venue like Halloween Haunt, we expect raunchy, abrasive humor.

What Tommy Tomb let fly at the crowds was by far, the most racy, outrageous and straight-up hard core humor that we've ever heard at Haunt.  Honestly, it made The Hanging and Dr. Cleaver's naughty humor look like Sesame Street!  In fact, it was so over-the-top, we were really stunned that Knott's was cool with it and allowed it.

Granted, any show or movie you see that is say, "R" rated is full of the "F" word, nudity and so on.  We don't think twice if someone's called a "bitch" or a nasty sex comment is made.  That's just the way it is.

When someone comes out in a theme park environment - even if it is Halloween Haunt - and starts in with super-naughty comments and really adult jokes, it's still a bit jarring.  However, that is exactly what the show needed and it went from being in serious trouble to a hip, eye-opening and startling comedy showcase that lasted roughly 25 minutes.

Tommy Tomb's one-liners came with amazing ease and Jeff is such a versatile comic, the comments were tailored from show to show, without skipping a beat.  Tucker has no problem insulting people (while making them laugh about it - no bloodshed in this show), getting them to do seriously stupid things and he does have what it takes to keep the audience shocked and on its collective toes.

If you can keep a packed room (and his shows were very full for the most part throughout Haunt) laughing and interested at the Scary Farm, you have success on your hands.

Now, the question that begs to be asked is, was the show good at the end of the day?  In our opinion, yes, it was a very funny show.

There are some "conditional" points, though.  We tend to really laugh at toilet humor; if you're not into fart jokes or don't laugh easily a poop humor, then you've got an uphill battle of appreciation on your hands.

If you're not able to laugh at sexual comments or don't find nasty one-liners appealing, then again, you're in trouble if you want to like this show.

And if you don't find yourself comfortable with crude humor in general, then your ship is all but sunk in this case.  Tommy Tomb geared itself to be shocking, gross and a venue that pushed the envelope harder than ever before at Halloween Haunt.

Another inherent problem with this type of show is that you're at the mercy of the crowd.  It's a known fact that on different nights, some of the Haunt crowds are much more rough around the edges and it often seems like they are there to look for trouble than have a good time.

There's no doubt in our mind that Jeff must have had his fair share of people heckle him from the audience.  In fact, we saw it happen.  Rest assured, Tommy Tomb put them in place really quickly and very nicely.

But back to being at the mercy of the crowd.  If the mood is mellow and everyone is tired, you are going to have less laughs.  Now, if everyone is pumped to be there and the night is just getting fired up, you have the makings of a great show at your finger tips.

There's a challenge when creating any show at any theme park these days, and that is that you're dealing with the MTV Generations - the PSP and PS2 kids.  Shows are expected to be fast and furious - if there is more than a 10-second lull, boredom sets in right away and you've had it.

If a group of young teens goes in to the show with little or no concept as to what a bad lounge act actually is like, then all they see is a guy on stage who can't sing, can't dance and is blowing farts into a microphone.  In that case, it may not work for them.  In that case, Tommy doesn't get the laughs and in that case, people walk out saying, "That was weak."

On the other hand, people that have been to bars or third-rate shows on the Las Vegas Strip get what is being portrayed and those folks are bound to have a better time with the connection to Tommy Tomb.

Tommy's back-up band is a fun group of guys who play a huge roll each year in the execution of Halloween Haunt.  They certainly seem to have fun with the whole thing, regardless of whether they are playing to a great house or a dead one.  Both came and everyone in the show just made the best of it and worked it out.

Another key element that was added to the show was audience participation.  At first, Tommy Tomb was a sit-down-and-watch show.  In the revision, audience members were actually brought on stage - something that not only keeps everyone interested, it keeps the show fresh and allows for Jeff to really fine-tune his comedic talents and unleash raw, no-holds-barred comments nightly on these poor folks!  And that worked very well.  Not only did it make the show seem shorter (as opposed to sitting watching someone on a stage for 25 minutes), it broke through the show/audience boundary and created an "event" that everyone was involved in.

If you take a look at the big Haunt shows - Cleaver, Hanging, Alonzo and Tomb - each one gets the audience involved (the Hanging does to the most minimal extent).  This is imperative these days; you must include the audience if you want to keep their attention.  Jeff and his crew saw this and worked it in much for the better.

We'd say that Tommy Tomb is one of the most original and "dangerous" shows we've ever seen at Knott's Halloween Haunt.  Not only did it break new ground (and wind), it was a risk.  A risk for the Farm, a risk for the entire venue and ultimately - a personal risk for Jeff Tucker.  After all, if the show were to fail miserably, he still had to come to work each day and night and face his peers.  The stakes were high, and in our opinion, Jeff did very nicely at the end of the day.

We found ourselves laughing out loud and thought his wit was perfect - even shocking for Haunt standards.  We'd see this show again in a heartbeat if it returns for Haunt 2005.

The question remains - will Tommy Tomb make a return for 2005's run?  If we told you, we'd have to kill you... and in this show, there's only room for one stiff... Tommy Tomb.

Props to Jeff for creating a unique experience, props to Jeff for busting his ass every night to make us all laugh, props to the band for having to look at Jeff's ass every night and finally, kudos to Jack Falfas and Charles Bradshaw for having the balls to let Jeff loose on the guests.  It really was something to behold!

Speaking of beholding - there are more pictures below for you to behold.  Yes, they are frame captures, simply because we felt that the show had changed so much after we were at Haunt, we wanted to use the final version for this review.  Enjoy!

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