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Guest Editorial
By Paul O'Brien in Ireland

Mick Foley opened his European Tour in the ancestral Foley home place, County Cork, Ireland on Thursday night to a packed house. The love was evident for the former WWE Champion even before he took to the stage. Foley! Foley! Foley! chants could be heard in pockets of the waiting crowd. Various 'Cactus Jack' t-shirts were visible and at least one 'Broski' headband was unleashed.

It was an event that mashed a similar looking, Attitude era crowd into a bar venue over a larger bar venue. This was the gathering of all the 30 and 40-somethings who never got the chance to see Foley in his prime. Most were still long-haired and tattooed or bald-headed and goateed. Apparently, Cork is the fashion capital of 1997.

Mick Foley's comedy tour arriving was a (much tamer) ECW-type event that Ireland never had. A minority in the crowd sometimes wanted to be more chant-happy than Mick was rightly willing to entertain. The line was sometimes blurred, and therefore crossed, between Hardcore Legend and Apprentice Comedian.

Foley rallied between road stories and backstage anecdotes to more traditional comedy 'bits.' From the moment he took the mic, he had the whole room in the palm of his hand. Even when he felt himself go down a dead end with an attempt at local humor, he quickly moved back to what he knew and tied together the joke failing with him failing in wrestling rings all over the U.S.

And, that's where the line got blurred sometimes. It's hard to get mad at sections of the crowd for wanting a wrestling atmosphere when a couple of times in the show that's where it looked like Foley himself was most at home.

Spontaneous chants broke out when the 'smart' fans heard a name or event that they considered 'insider.' Sometimes this worked and other times it looked to knock Foley off the crucial timing needed to punctuate his better lines when he moved away from the wrestling material.

And, Mick Foley's other material is hysterical and well-thought-out.

His 'Mandy' and 'Karate Kid' bits are hilarious and had even the most chanting of chanters too busy laughing to be 'those guys.'

As the show really began to build, Foley seemed to want to open up a little bit more - tell us that he was the type of person who thrived on reaction and relayed the birth of Mick Foley the performer. He brilliantly carried the audience through race and volunteerism, alternative movie scenarios, clever and timely music cues and giraffe attacks.

His charm and self-deprecating humor went down easily and took along for the ride an already signed-up crowd. He mimicked, danced, mimed ("worm tongue" has to be seen), and went into promo mode to collect as many laughs as he could collect.

Near the end, he talked about leaving it all on the stage. And, that's what Mick Foley did in Cypress Avenue, Cork. He ran long, worked hard, and made a crowd full of well-wishing strangers laugh their asses off.

A few years ago, signs in the arenas where Foley used to work made definitive statements about Mick Foley. One thing Foley definitely is - is funny. Great show.

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[Torch art credit Neal Obermeyer (c) PWTorch.com]

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