Here is a joke I often tell at the Poker table to gauge the sensibilities of my fellow players:

Me: What’s the best thing about having sex with 28 year olds?

Some guy at the table: What?

Me: There’s twenty of them.

This is what usually happens. A third of the table laughs, a third of the table doesn’t get it at all and blankly stare waiting for the punchline, and a third of them give me a look of complete and utter disgust. I have even gotten a few table change requests.

But every now and then, on just the right day, at just the right table, I can get the table to start a contest of who can tell the most disturbing joke.

Basically, I am a sick fuck. I make fun of everything, because not making fun of it isn’t going to stop any of it from happening.

I’m the only person I know who thinks “The Aristocrats” is too tame. Penn Jillette probably would have cut my version out of the movie for being too offensive.

So when I walked into the Harmon Theater yesterday to see “Bottoms Up II: Burlesque Strikes Back” for only its second showing since coming back to Vegas, I realized that it would probably be more tame than what I would personally find entertaining.

And that was entirely true.

This is a very old-school Las Vegas act. As a matter of fact, it has been around Vegas since the 1950’s. The style of humor is “Vaudeville”, and if you are a fan of people like Phyllis Diller, and old sketch comedy, then you will like this show.

It is a rather short show, clocking in at only 50 minutes.

It starts with some dancers. Not even remotely racy by Las Vegas standards (The dancers are more clothed than they would be at the pool).

The cast of about 5 characters is introduced, and they do about 15 sketches. A few comprised of simply telling jokes. There is very little by way of special effects or other “production” events. The actors rely on their props and costumes to deliver the goods. I assume this is the way it was done in the Vaudeville days.

In 2007, for anyone under 40, the humor would probably be considered “corny” for lack of a better word. But the older folks were laughing pretty hard. The actors relied more on innuendo than getting straight to the point (Think Jack Ritter in Threes Company). It also reminded me a bit of the “Benny Hill” humor.

For instance, there was a character named “Jack Shitz”. He sat down on a chair to read his family history to the audience. He told us about his brother “I Don’t Give A”, and his cousin “Dumb”. He went down a list of about 25 other family members names who, when put together, make a well-known phrase with the word “shit”. And after he was done, he said “now nobody can say that you don’t know Jack Shitz.”

I suppose this was “edgy” back in the day. In this day and age … I dunno.

Shows like “Family Guy” are on prime time TV, and push the envelope much further than that.

But this is a throwback show to the older days of Vegas, and on that level, I suppose it succeeds. The older folks seemed to really enjoy it, and laughed heartily. The younger people in the crowd kept waiting for the “Burlesque” chicks to take it off (never happened) and for the jokes about how white motherfuckers have small butts, high pitched voices, and can’t dance. You know, the comedy that has become the status-quo during our lifetimes.

There was a very palpable age-divide in the audience. The humor was a bit more cerebral, but significantly less shocking.

Two twenty-ish girls actually walked out during the show. I could tell they didn’t get the humor. I swear one of the two girls was this chick:

Anyway. The show plays at 1:00pm in the Harmon Theater next to Planet Aladdin. Yes, it’s a very early show.

The show has its niche’. It was okay, and I was entertained … but I kept waiting for the “Strikes Back” part. I thought it was going to go over the edge at some point, but it never came close to “striking back”. It stayed safe. Your grandmother won’t be offended.

If you like Vaudeville stuff, you will probably like the show. If you don’t … you probably won’t.

But even if you don’t dig that kind of humor, it might be worth the reasonable ticket price for the nostalgia factor alone. “Bottoms Up” is a bit of an icon in Vegas. You just have to take it for what it is. Humor from days gone by.