SLCene Suggest: Christopher Titus at Wiseguys

CHRISTOPHER TITUS, WISEGUYS WEST VALLEY CITY, Monday, Dec. 30 and Tuesday, Dec. 31, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., $20

If you only know Christopher Titus from his short-lived sitcom based on his standup material, do yourself a favor and check out one of his Comedy Central specials or Youtube a bit of his act. The man generates big laughs by mining some seriously dark topics, ranging from his dysfunctional upbringing and somewhat abusive dad (brought to hilarious life on that sitcom by Stacy Keach) to bigger topics like America’s proclivity for warfare, racism and child-custody battles. It takes a true talent to turn such taboo subjects into genuinely funny, cutting material–not just use them for shock value–and Titus has that skill in spades. With four shows lined up leading into the midnight hour on New Year’s Eve, there are plenty of options and not many good excuses for missing Titus do his thing.