popular thinking

FRIDAY NIGHT REVIEWS: Saw Lewis Black "and friends" at Emerson College's Majestic Theatre, then hustled over to Paddy O's for the final hour of Hothouse Flowers.

Boston Comedy Festival co-founder Jim McCue opened the show with a short warm-up set and "apologized" for his casual attire. Black then came onstage to thunderous applause to host the rest of the two-hour show. Black riffed about the start of the school year, had some new material about Mike "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" Brown of FEMA, some other material about Boston, Ireland and Terri Schiavo. His friends for the opening night of the festival were Lynne Koplitz, local guy Tony V. and Mike Wilmot. I hadn't heard much from any of these comics live before, so I was surprised at how blue both Koplitz and Wilmot were for an opening night festival theatre show. I would've stuck around to network, but I wanted to catch the Hothouse Flowers over at Paddy O's and wasn't sure what time they were due to play there. Made it in time to catch the final 45-50 minutes or so, followed by a TRUE ENCORE. The band stopped playing, the lights went dark, the DJ began spinning dance tunes, but the crowd wanted more. Eventually, Hothouse Flowers not only retook the stage, but also began jamming along with the DJ's selection, "Play That Funky Music," as a way to transition back to their soulful Irish rock. I never figured out why Hothouse Flowers never became more popular. Seeing them in this setting, a small Irish pub in Boston, made only a little sense. A good fit. But you'd expect them to play to larger crowds.