Dispatch from Detroit: Charlie Sheen bombs in his concert kickoff

Charlie Sheen got a lesson in the fickleness of crowds Saturday night. While doing his best to cash in on his recent cult with the launch of his "My Violent Torpedo of Truth / Defeat Is Not an Option Show,"  he tried to position himself as a folk hero of freedom. Unfortunately for him, the audience that turned out here at the Fox Theatre took him at his word: They essentially booed him off the stage.

Admittedly, this was one tough house. The warm-up act, some lanky, underwhelming comic named Kurt Fox, could barely finish a joke amid all the hoots and jeers. Sheen had to come out and ask the audience to cut the poor guy some slack. But there was no one to fly to his rescue once it was clear that the ex-star of "Two and a Half Men" had no ability as a live performer.

Honesty is Sheen's touted value, so here goes: He didn’t bring the goods, and no amount of pandering to the spectators with his you-and-me against-the-trolls malarkey could convince them otherwise.

He flashed bits of the “20/20” interview. He brandished the “warlock,” “tiger blood” and “duh” catch phrases his people have been slapping on merchandise. He offered an incoherent rant from a presidential podium. He even tried to hide behind film montages and video clips. But the aging Hollywood pretty boy was not only defeated by the uncontrollable nature of theater--he was running scared.

Read the complete review here: Charlie Sheen review: An inept performance had his audience baying for human blood

--Charles McNulty in Detroit

Above: Sheen onstage Saturday in Detroit. Credit: Carlos Osorio / Associated Press. See more photos of Charlie Sheen's "Violent Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat Is Not an Option"

Comments

[ChrisS]

I really think he thought he could just go out and do anything and have a show. Maybe that scripted show where he became 'charlie waffles' got stuck in his head or something.

What a freaking loser he has become.

[So he had a paying audience?]

The writer doesn't say how many tickets Mr. Sheen sold.

Pro wrestlers have a lot of booing, hissing fans, too.

It's an act.

[Sandra Hedding]

This was his FIRST night doing something he has never done before. Give him a break. He won because he took a risk and tried something new. Not everyone agrees the show was a bomb, just a few parts that needed work -- and I'm sure he will work on them. I'm planning to get tickets to go to support him, period. He's off drugs, he's trying new creative things and dealing with a lot of losses. He's always been talented, and he always will be. Keep going, Charlie, and don't let the skeptics get you down!

[Jrwkilleen]

Sheen got exactly what he deserved and those that bought tickets got exactly the same thing.

[jps]

I've always known that performing live is a unique skill set and taping a show for a later broadcast in a controlled audience environment was akin to flying a f-16 fighter jet or flying a radio controlled helicopter from Brookstone.

[Wardell]

What was that phrase Gomer Pyle used for moments like this?

[Brian C.]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA........SUCKERS!!!!!! He's crazy like a fox. He drew all his supporters.....I mean suckers in and took their money. I love it. Sheen used his inner P.T. Barnum and once again proved there are suckers born everyday.

[DG3]

Umm, what were people thinking?

fools and their money...

[Mike]

Fools? Money? Consider thyselves parted.

[Rocco]

What about Kacey Jordan? What did she do ?

[calvin hobbs]

The people who like Charlie, like the person they saw from the TV show, that's not only Charlie but everyone who worked making the show, it was the show that was successful with millions of fans, not just Charlie. Hey Mr Sheen, you need those writers and producers and fellow actors, etc., admit it!!!!! Winning....! DUH!!

[Brian C.]

@So he had a paying audience: It was a sell-out with 5100 seats sold.

[North of Sunset]

Much ado about nothing...any fool who watched his videos knew paying real money to see him live was a LOSING proposition.

[North of Sunset]

Winning? Loser

[Arthur M.]

Well I guess Barnum was right. There's a sucker born every minute. Everybody who bought tickets to this trainwreck got exactly what they deserved.

[Lilo]

I feel sorry for him, but he did make his own bed.

[mrsmurgatroyd]

Charlie is an actor. He reads other peoples words(writers). Why would anyone expect him to be able to perform live. If you saw and heard him as a patient in a mental hospital or in your home, you would not think him funny or even amusing, just boring.

[Nolan Carter]

According to the Daily Rash, when Charlie had his meltdown at the Plaza hotel last year, the police arrested his hairpiece and held it without bail! http://www.thedailyrash.com/?p=4922

[kwitcherbellyakin]

Recently viewed Frank Zappa as a 1963 guest on the TONIGHT Show with Steve Allen hosting. (you tube,). Frank's 15 minutes of fame? Playing the bicycle, actually two of them. Steve was gracious and Frank was, well FZ. The 1963 audience was very patient while FZ went into what was to become the standard FZ monologue (of which I was the focus in his 1976 Chicago Mother's Day show and apparently the next show in St. Louis). Nobody booed and at best were intrigued in the bicycle schitck. How much did the audience pay to sit in the theater to see FZ? Same as what it costs now to be in a guest audience. The point (besides trying to puff my now gravity fallen chest over one groupie back in the day story?) FZ had talent undeveloped. Charlie has snake oil. As FZ might say today, "Rub it!"

[ArchtMig]

I read somewhere that a big chunk of the tickets were bought by ticket brokers, i.e. scalpers, thinking they would cash in big on the Charlie Sheen craze and sell them at their usual more-than-face-value prices. And now the brokers are stuck with a bunch of tickets to shows that nobody wants to see....

Boom... winning!