Star of Comedy Central’s ‘Tosh.0’ brings his stand-up to The Mirage

Five funny things about Daniel Tosh — the host of Comedy Central’s “Tosh.0”:

1. He graduated from something called Astronaut High School in Florida. I told him Astronaut High School makes it sound as if his parents were in “I Dream of Jeannie.”

“I don’t think she could have a child,” Tosh said of Jeannie. “I don’t think she could have sex with a man. I know she couldn’t show her navel.”

2. Censors bleep out a lot of non-cuss words on “Tosh.0,” a snarky, fast-paced Comedy Central version of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”

Here are just some of the many phrases that have been bleeped after leaving Tosh’s mouth: “Wide open.” “Slop Hole.” “Tongue Bucket.”

“There’s no rhyme or reason sometimes” to the censoring, Tosh says. “You can argue your way out of them, if your argument is good enough.

“Whatever. It’s kind of fun” arguing with the standards and practices department, Tosh shrugs. “I enjoy my battles every week.”

3. Tosh reads viewers’ Twitter rants on the air, especially if they make fun of him.

“It seems the only thing I allow (on the show), as far as Twitter and stuff like that, is when people comment on how ‘queer’ I am, or any other slam they feel necessary about my mother.

“A lot of people did start Twitter accounts just to scream at me,” he says.

I told Tosh, if you go look at the weirdos following Tosh on Twitter, they come across as scary stalkers with no friends or “followers.”

“I’m sure it’s creepy and not safe,” he says. “I’ll end up dead somewhere soon, but oh well.”

4. He went into comedy after seeing Carrot Top on stage.

“My first stand-up show was Carrot Top at my college in Florida. And I remember just loving it, like, ‘That’s the greatest thing ever!’ Then I started doing stand-up in college.”

5. Tosh is so giddy in a demented way, he seems to me to be the comedian least likely to commit suicide someday. I told him that.

“I’ll take it,” he says of the compliment. “I certainly didn’t have a tough childhood — a strict one.

“I had a Presbyterian pastor for a father. That can shed some light on a potential childhood that was filled with misguided, forced knowledge down my throat. But I’m fine. I enjoy life. I kind of have a good time.”

Preview

10 p.m. today and Saturday

Terry Fator Theatre at The Mirage,
3400 Las Vegas Blvd. South

$47.90-$69.90 (792-7777)

Show offers YouTube ‘stars’ a shot at redemption

Years ago, someone posted on YouTube a home video of a bug-eyed kid receiving a Nintendo 64 on Christmas and going wild with happy screaming for a minute and six seconds.

That video has been viewed 11.5 million times.

Fortunately, “Tosh.0” on Comedy Central offered that kid — and other “victims” of YouTube postings — a chance for “Web redemption,” one of the great inventions of the YouTube world.

So, the Nintendo 64 kid went on “Tosh” 13 years after that Christmas. Tosh gave him a new Sea-Doo and the chance to redeem himself by reacting only slightly crazy.

“Receive a gift like a normal human,” Tosh instructed him.

What’s weird is: I’ve seen gobs of YouTube videos, but I hadn’t seen that Nintendo 64 video until I saw that episode of “Tosh.0.”

Actually, that’s not weird, Tosh says.

“I have found out from doing this show: Take the most famous Internet clip, and the average person on the street has never seen it,” he says.

It’s not easy getting YouTube victims to go on “Tosh” for a Web redemption.

“Most people say ‘no’ to us a billion times before we actually get them to say ‘yes,’ ” he says.

“They want to distance themselves, or they don’t want to be made fun of. Or they want to get past it.”

So now to my point: I told Tosh he should give Web redemption to Tiger Woods, but then, that would require Tiger to do his mea culpa on Comedy Central, which seems, you know, unlikely.

“I would love to do celebrity redemptions,” Tosh says. “I think Tiger’s shooting a little too high. I’ll wait for Corey Haim.”

Tiger really ought to consider going on “Tosh.” Tosh is brash, crass and quick-witted, just as he is on stage doing stand-up comedy.

But Tosh’s silly Web redemptions ultimately make YouTube “victims” seem like good-spirited fun people who can laugh at themselves and move on.

Web redemptions are not meant to “take the piss out of people,” Tosh says.

Plus, people get $1,000 and a trip to Los Angeles if they accept a Web redemption offer.

If Tosh could give Tiger Web redemption, his advice would be:

“Just stay single. You don’t have to check into sex rehab. Just don’t get married,” he says. “No one’s telling George Clooney to check into sex rehab.”

Contact Doug Elfman at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.