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First appeared Oct. 21, 2002
Some know him as the comedian with a deceased reggae legend’s name, and others know him as the crazy detective from the cult hit “Boondock Saints.” But on Saturday night, Bangor’s own Bob Marley was known only as Maine’s king of comedy as he performed at the Maine Center for the Arts in front of a sold-out crowd.
Supported by opening act Quinn Collins, a fellow Maine comedian and UMaine alumnus, the University of Maine stop was part of Marley’s current tour across the country.
Once Collins was finished performing, the MCA went to black and a voice announced, “Coming directly from the David Letterman and the Tonight Show, Maine’s king of comedy, Bob Marley.”
While the voice ran through the speakers, AC/DC’s ”Hell’s Bells” played over the sound system. As the curtain opened, Marley appeared, swinging from side to side in synchronicity with the sound of the bells.
After his opening routine, Marley, dressed in a black leather jacket, a black turtleneck and jeans, reached for the microphone and quickly delivered his trademark Maine humor to the crowd, starting off with none other than Bangor International Airport.
“Have you noticed when you touch down and get outside the plane, the airport is gone,” Marley said. “The only thing you see is the gate and Pat’s Pizza.”
The next subject he touched on was the condition of the Maine Turnpike.
“Have your heard that it will take four months to finish the Maine Turnpike?” Marley asked. “Just give me a snowplow and a bottle of gin and it will be done by Monday.”
Shortly thereafter Marley got into the spirit of the season with a rant on Halloween in the state of Maine.
“Remember when you were a kid and whenever you put on your costume, you had to put your jacket on first?” Marley said. “I used to walk around from door to door and have people say, ‘You’re the fattest Superman I have ever seen.’”
Marley continued his set, discussing items ranging from the New England Patriots to his parents, and how he sees them now compared to when he was a child.
Before ending the show, Marley discussed his own parenthood, the birth of his first child and the day after.
“I’m sitting here realizing that she is making a human being, and I stand next to her saying ‘breathe,”’ Marley said. “Something tells me if she is advanced enough to make a child then she could probably breathe without me reminding her.”
“I remember sitting there [the day after], and my wife has a Jacuzzi under her ass as the nurses are massaging her everywhere and feeding her chocolate covered cherries,” Marley said. “While that is happening, I’m sitting in the corner like a pauper and I ask, ‘Can I have a cherry?’ The nurse says, ‘Leave sperm-giver, you and your thing are no longer needed here.’”
From the time he entered the stage to his last line, Marley says the show was like a competitive, friendly battle with the crowd.
“It seems like with every joke I told, they kept laughing; it was like a friendly competition,” Marley said. “The more I dished out, the more they could take.”
Bangor Daily News