Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

Thursday, January 19, at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-528-5999.

Comments (0) By William Michael Smith Thursday, Jan 19 2006

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The Right Reverend Billy C. Wirtz, who presides over the House of Polyester Worship and Horizontal Throbbing Teenage Desire, is in his own words "a partyin' motherfucker." Don't make the mistake of thinking of Wirtz as just a comic, although he can split sides with the best Comedy Central has to offer. What separates Wirtz from even the best stand-up comics is his piano virtuosity; he can pound the keys like Jerry Lee Lewis, tinkle the ivories like Liberace, and drop-dead mime the overblown gestures and pompous New Age posing of John Tesh. All the while, Wirtz's mouth is moving at the speed of light with one-liners and ridiculous narratives that would make Rodney Dangerfield blush. His many impersonations are of Rich Little quality, and Wirtz is an absolute master of malapropism; since he began his recording career in 1989, he's offered up collections like 1998's Unchained Maladies (featuring his classic "Get Off My Lawn!"), 1996's Songs of Faith and Inflammation and 1994's Pianist Envy, which spawned the cult favorite "Mennonite Surf Party." His 2003 release, Rev. Elation, even included a Houston-based doo-wop parody, "En-Ron-Ron." But Wirtz is best known for his insane reinvention of those late-night K-Tel advertisements in which he hawks the hits of "America's favorite gangsta guru, Tupak Chopra," the Navel Gaze label artist who puts "the dent in transcendental, the Uzi in Jacuzzi," and whose hits include the hilarious "Baby Got Dot," "I Like My Bitches with Seven Arms" and a remix of Chopra's million-seller "Who Let the Sacred Cows Out." Wirtz will be previewing material from his new Blind Pig Records release, Sermon from Bethlehem, PA, during this trip to H-town. The easily offended and politically correct need not attend. Admission is strictly limited to partyin' motherfuckers.