Glenn Beck Comedy Tour Announced
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NEW YORK — Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel's latest sensation, is taking a comedy show on the road for six live performances over six days during the first week of June.
Beck calls his act a "poor man's Seinfeld" and intends to mix topical humor with his modern-day reimagining of Thomas Paine's 1776 pamphlet "Common Sense."
The radio and TV talk show host will start June 1 in Denver, then perform in theaters in Phoenix, San Diego, Kansas City, Houston and Richmond, Va., over the next five days, he said. The Kansas City show on June 4 will air as a live simulcast in select theaters across the country and as a recorded broadcast in theaters a week later, a spokesman for Beck said.
Beck has done such live performances in the past, most recently during the downtime between his departure from CNN's HLN network and joining Fox's schedule in January.
His profile has increased exponentially since then, with his 5 p.m. show nearly doubling Fox's ratings in the time slot. He's become a favorite target for Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert to lampoon, and been criticized by liberals for over-the-top criticisms of President Barack Obama.
"I couldn't have guessed this success at Fox," Beck said. "We would never have put money down on the table that we would have had this kind of success."
Since he began doing live performances in 2004, Beck has appeared before more than 100,000 fans.
The live shows give him the chance to see firsthand what sort of themes are resonating among his regular followers, Beck said. For the first time during his most recent tour, there seemed to be no regional differences in the concerns that his fans expressed, he said.
"I learn something from the audience," he said. "I know my thoughts but I can see their reaction to things."
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DAVID BAUDER 04/12/09 06:02 PM ET Associated Press