He denies people the right to laugh, earning their ire and disgust instead. (On вЂњGreat Phone Calls,вЂќ a 1992 compilation of prank calls, he tries to persuade comedy club employees to dump their headliners and book him instead.) He ingeniously underscores the latent superiority complex of the paying customer. The alter ego of the avant-garde musician Gregg Turkington, Neil Hamburger has striven to be AmericaвЂ™s least-funny funnyman since the early 90s. вЂњOh, come on - I have cancer,вЂќ he protested. Soon the crowd erupted with roaring, nonstop boos. But he was too nasty and vain to be pitied.

A hunched lounge lizard with a combover and a dour expression, he told outdated (and offensive) jokes about the Jackson Five and Jar Jar Binks with a painfully inept delivery. Like Borat, the anticomedian Neil Hamburger, the eveningвЂ™s opening act, has a timely knack for baiting a crowd and confounding expectations. They were too busy hitting major plot points, from a car chase (with cut-out props) to outrocking the devil during вЂњBeelzeboss (The Final Showdown).вЂќ And there was little of the spontaneous banter and audience interplay that made past shows so endearing. Without the elaborate sight gags and Meat Loaf cameo, it was far less funny. GassвЂ™s filmic living room (couch, keg, bong).

Instead the duo mostly reinterpreted their recent movie, вЂњTenacious D in the Pick of Destiny,вЂќ as an Off Off Broadway musical, complete with a set that resembled Mr. That Tenacious D actually had a gig at the Garden (which was respectably full) seemed ripe for a running joke, or at least some vainglorious gloating. Still, they and their sole fan, a burnout named Lee, remain convinced that Who-sized superstardom is one rock-off away. Gass play slackers deluded that they are the вЂњgreatest band on earth,вЂќ but they canвЂ™t even impress open-mike-night crowds with their bombastic shred-fests about dragons and groupies. This acoustic folk-metal duo - the actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass - has developed a cult following over the last decade with its affectionate spoof of classic rock. Has Borat killed stoner humor? On Friday night at Madison Square Garden, Tenacious DвЂ™s gentle jokes about Sasquatch and Colonel Sanders seemed dated compared to the cringe-inducing sting of BoratвЂ™s cross-cultural blunders.

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