Vince Vaughn is the actor every girl would love to date and every guy would love to drink a beer with. Luckily for students at The University of Memphis, the star of “Wedding Crashers,” “Old School” and “Dodgeball” will be appearing at the Orpheum Theatre on Sept. 29.
“Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show” will kick off Sept. 12 in Hollywood and wrap up 30 days later in Chicago.
Although Vaughn is the big name on the bill, other comedians will be the true stars of the show.
Vaughn will be the emcee of the event as well as doing improvisational bits between other acts. The four performers featured are Bret Ernst, John Caparulo, Ahmed Ahmed and Sebastian Maniscalco.
Vaughn hand-picked the entertainers after seeing their acts at the World Famous Comedy Store in Hollywood. He hopes that this tour will make these comedians famous outside California.
The idea of doing a stand-up comedy tour has been on Vaughn’s mind for the past couple of years.
“It started when I did some comedy for the Army Emergency Relief Fund in Chicago,” Vaughn said in a phone interview.
“Different friends of mine would come out like Jon Favreau from “Swingers” and Justin Long from “Dodgeball” and we’d just have a great time.”
Vaughn and Long re-created one of the audience’s favorite scenes from “Dodgeball” with the unforgettable line, “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”
After leaving audiences in stitches, Vaughn decided to take the laughs on the road.
“I hadn’t been across the country since I was a kid, and I’d spend the whole time sitting in-between my sisters and trying not to get grounded,” Vaughn said.
After his comedic films consistently topped the box office charts, Vaughn decided now was as good a time as any to go out on the road.
“I just want to sit on a bus and watch the country fly by,” Vaughn said.
Stand-up, which Vaughn admits is not his calling, is still one of his passions.
“I tried it a few times,” Vaughn said. “I have a lot of respect for the people that do it. It’s a hard road.”
The road might not be so hard with funnyman Vaughn leading the way.
“I love doing movies, but it’s a great feeling to perform live and have immediate reactions from the crowd,” Vaughn said.
When the “Wild West Comedy Show” pulls into Memphis, college students are sure to fill the seats. Even though people in their 20s are a guarantee, Vaughn said the show is appropriate for all ages.
“We’ve had a lot of college students at previous shows,” Vaughn said, “We’ve also had people of all ages and from all different backgrounds.”
“Come one, come all,” he said.
In all of Vaughn’s box office smash films, his characters are all about having fun. The “Wild West Comedy Show” is guaranteed to have the same goal.
Tickets are currently on sale through all Ticketmaster locations as well as through the Orpheum Theatre box office.
