COMEDIAN LEANS INTO THE OBVIOUS, ADDS PEPPER; RESTAURANT CRITIC AWARDS BIT TWO FORKS

This paper's restaurant critic does not usually review comedy. She made an exception for So White, a 2012 bit she describes as "less a routine than a recipe."

The method, according to the comedian's own notes, is simple: call it how it is, lean into your obviousness, sprinkle it with pepper, "and you got yourself a winning dish." "Most comics hide the main ingredient," the critic said. "He put it on the plate, garnished it and carried it out to the table himself."

The review arrives in an awkward week for the comedian's wardrobe. For years, as this paper reports on the front page, his T-shirts tried to steer people away from what they assumed they were seeing. On stage, at least once, he did the opposite: named the thing the whole room had already noticed, and served it hot.

"It's the honesty that makes it work," the critic concluded. "You can't argue with a man who has already said the obvious thing before you could. You can only laugh, and ask for more pepper."

Two forks. Peppered, not stirred. Would order again.