The “wellRED: From Dixie with Love” comedy tour is set to serve progressive messages with a side of fried okra Oct. 20, at the Capitol Theater.
Comedians Trae Crowder, Drew Morgan and Corey Ryan Forrester form a trio for the tour. All of them are united by a common thread.
“We’re all very liberal and grew up in small towns in the south,” Crowder said.
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Crowder is the most recognizable of the three, as his “Liberal Redneck” series of videos went viral in 2016. The videos consist of Crowder purveying a progressive argument on a social issue facing the nation while using Southern vernacular and metaphors. For example, he recently compared the investigation and confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the potential hiring of Greg Schiano as the head coach of his beloved Tennessee Volunteers football team.
Many find this particular combination to be entertaining, but the reasoning behind it’s entertainment factor isn’t always universal.
“We’ve done a lot of shows in the Pacific northwest where they might see our act as more of a novelty, they don’t connect with it like liberals in Georgia,” Crowder said.
He noted the divide rested more along the lines of a rural versus urban population split and wasn’t reliant upon strict regional lines. He noted many people who grew up in small towns can relate to the show, even if their small town is in Wisconsin instead of Tennessee.
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While his viral videos are created and based around current events, the tour is planned out far in advance, and therefore relies more on narrative than quick cracks about the current state of the nation.
Specifically, the show will take a look at a variety of personal anecdotes which relate to larger themes of love and acceptance. Crowder will also chat about disparities in peoples’ perceptions of himself, now that he has moved out of Tennessee and to the West Coast.
“I live in California now, so I talk a lot about the perception there of me and the south and trying to reach people on the other side [of the political spectrum],” Crowder said.
While Madison is liberal on its own, the “wellRED” tour is sure to offer a different perspective on the liberal values which resound here every day, and perhaps change a view point or two over the course of the night.
The wellRED tour plays at the Capitol Theater at the Overture Center Saturday, Oct. 20th, at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $35-55.
