Sunday, April 3, 2011

'Winning? No, he was bombing': Angry fans boo and heckle as Charlie Sheen's one-man stage show flops

By Simon Neville


Charlie Sheen and his 'godesses' were roundly booed and heckled by the audience. But the out-of-work actor seemed disinterested as the show bombed


Charlie Sheen kicked off his one man show tour tonight telling the audience he wanted them to enjoy ‘a night of winning.’

But by the end of Violent Torpedo of Truth Defeat is Not an Option he wasn’t winning, but bombing.

Angry fans booed and heckled the former Two and a Half Men star, demanding their money back, but the unapologetic actor was uninterested, telling one member of the baying crowd ‘I've already got your money, dude.’

The crowds booed and heckled throughout. Sheen didn't help saying: 'Let me tell you a story about crack. Figured Detroit was a good place to try this joke'


He’s going to need it, since he was fired from his $2million an episode job on the CBS comedy.

The 70-minute show hadn't even ended when the first reviews were in, and they were brutal.

Twitter was awash with comments from fans at the show, with the hash-tag 'bombing' becoming one of the most tweeted.

The capacity crowd at the 5,100-seat Fox Theatre in Detroit rebelled before he left the stage, chanting ‘refund!’ and walking out in droves.

Linda Fugate, 47, of the Detroit suburb of Lincoln Park, walked outside and up the block yelling, ‘I want my money back!’

She said she paid $150 for two seats.

‘I was hoping for something. I didn't think it would be this bad.’

Winning? Sheen promised Snoop Dogg, instead he played a video of the rapper before the theatre lights were switched on. No curtain call was required


Fans who gathered outside the theatre before the doors opened Saturday — some who had to fly in for the show — said they were hoping to see the increasingly eccentric actor deliver some of the colourful rants that have made him an internet star since his ugly falling out with CBS and the producers of Two and a Half Men.

They got the ranting. It just wasn't funny.

‘I expected him to at least entertain a little bit. It was just a bunch of ranting,’ said Rodney Gagnon, 34, of Windsor, Ontario.

Promising to give fans ‘the real story,’ the 45-year-old Sheen kicked off a month-long, 20-city tour Saturday night, with the second show scheduled for Sunday in Chicago.

Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option opened in Detroit. It will tour 20 cities around the country, assuming any more tickets are sold


The show started well for Sheen, as the crowd stood and cheered as he and the women he calls his ‘goddesses’ took the stage.

The women, one a former porn star and the other an actress, carried signs with the words ‘War’ and ‘Lock’ references to one of the catchphrases Sheen recently coined.

The two women shared an intimate kiss, to howls from the crowd.

But when the warm-up act Kurt Fox came on the do his routine, the booing started.

Sheen was forced to come onto the stage to encourage the rowdy audience to give the guy a chance, saying he would be back once he had had a snickers bar.

According to those inside, Fox eventually left the stage, saying: ‘These jokes are so bad I don't even want to finish them.’

One fan bemoaned: 'I expected him to at least entertain a little bit. It was just a bunch of ranting.'


Finally Sheen took to the stage, saying: ‘I don't see a single empty seat,’ he said.

He tried on a bowling shirt like one his TV character Charlie Harper would wear, then took it off and had his goddesses burn it.

He then donned a Detroit Tigers No. 99 jersey, a reference to his role in the film ‘Major League.’

Sheen had said rapper Snoop Dogg would perform at the show, but he didn't.

Instead, the show ended with a video for a new Snoop Dogg song before the lights went on and most of the crowd left the theatre.

But 15 minutes later he returned with his ‘godesses’ and beckoned the remaining audience down to the front of the stage.

Once they were there he just walked off. An encore was not required.

Toronto-area resident Ronnie Prentice was among several fans outside the theatre who said they were hoping to see Sheen rant.

‘It's kind of like a NASCAR race. You're just tuning in because you're just waiting for the accident to happen,’ said Ronnie Prentice, 37.

Adam Hawke said he bought a ticket for the same reason.

‘He might be doing something really crazy,’ said Hawke, 47, who works in the construction business and lives in Michigan. ‘He's a wreck. That's half the draw.’

Geoff Rezek, 69, flew in from New York to see what he believed was going to be ‘history in the making.’

‘I wouldn't miss the first show. Who knows if there's going to be a second show?’ said Rezek, a computer consultant from Connecticut, who said he also bought a ticket for Sheen's show next week in his home state.


source:dailymail

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