Stephens auditorium was a full house, people were filing in to the far corners of the sold out show. Beer was flowing and as the clock was ticking closer to 8 P.M. and Tim Allen was in the building.  

Landed Ames Iowa, finished sound check in this bad ass theater the sold out Stephens Auditorium off to eat and get stoked for my 8pm show. pic.twitter.com/1KsP2kScTV

— Tim Allen (@ofctimallen) September 15, 2017

The stage was set with a single violet spotlight with only a microphone stand and a black bar stool lit, the universal symbol of stand up. The evening was sure to be a comedic journey.

After multiple failed attempts of the audience cheering and clapping to provoke Allen onto the stage prematurely. The lights dimmed and a voice boomed introducing a brief, yet crowd pleasing opener who appeared on the dimly lit stage next to the mic stand and stool. The crowd was not expecting an opening act, it was never advertised. 

“I’m just the free pickle that you get with your sandwich when you order from a deli,” the opener joked. The crowd laughed and was eager to bust a gut. After several airline jokes varying from lost luggage to bathroom conditions, the crowd was ready for the main attraction.

The show started with the auditorium going dark and a large projector screen came down from the fly system. Clips from “Home Improvement”, “Galaxy Quest” and “The Santa Clause,” among others, played. The crowd was hooting and hollering, the mature audience was reliving the first time they saw the comedian in these shows and movies for the first time. 

The screen lifted and the lights shown on Allen, he didn’t hesitate as he went right into the buffoonery starting with his childhood. One-liner after one-liner, nothing was off limits. Allen had an engaging style of taking the crowd with him through his life experiences, while still going off on tangents about politics, processed food, his hatred of children, California, fireworks, you name it, but he’d always loop back into his personal life.

He had a routine and he was good at it. Allen has been doing stand up for 32 years, it was his first gig before really getting into show business. He joked about how the audiences always are in shock about his level of vulgarity when they see him in stand up. Most people know Allen from his family friendly movies and TV shows.

The evening was winding down, Allen cracked a final joke about flatulence, the crowd yucked it up and rose in a standing ovation as the auditorium went dark one last time.