Comedians tour with Opie & Anthony, take two

Opie & Anthony prepared to return from yet another radio exile, right on the eve of launching their second annual summer comedy tour. Good timing, eh? XM satellite radio's month-long suspension ended this morning, and the K-Rock jocks get to celebrate tomorrow when the second annual "Opie & Anthony's Traveling Virus" tour kicks off at Jones Beach.

"The timing is interesting," Gregg (Opie) Hughes told me. "So yeah, they might be excited to see us."

Fans will hear plenty of free speech, too, from comedians Louis CK, Frank Caliendo, Robert Kelly, Stephen Lynch, Otto & George, Patrice Oneal, Bob Saget, Rich Vos and O&A sidekick Jim Norton (7 p.m. tomorrow, $26-$70 via Ticketmaster). The seven-city tour visits Mohegan Sun later this month and Holmdel, N.J., in August.

"I think they're going to be very festive because they can see everyone in a free atmosphere," Oneal said. "Plus, it's the first live thing after all the bull-, so people can just take a breath and enjoy themselves."

The showcase also features an Ozzfest-style village of merchants, artists and crazies to go along with the comedy.

"And that doesn't count the tailgating that happens before," Hughes said.

Last year, the jocks weren't sure what to expect on tour. "We didn't know if fans would have the patience to sit through eight to nine comics," Hughes said. "But there were times when you could hear a pin drop because the audience was waiting to hear the next joke."

Some crowds, though, got a little too into the act. In Philadelphia, the audience booed Bill Burr so relentlessly that he turned on the crowd with a hilarious rant against that city's heroes, a performance which became a YouTube hit in comedy circles. Burr, who appears on "Letterman" tonight, is passing up this tour, saying, "I earned my Purple Heart" the last go-round.

"There's nothing better than killing in front of that audience and nothing more frightening than bombing in front of them," Norton said. "They're loyal fans, but they're barbarians."

Kelly said the fans may be rowdy, but they do know comedy. "They're familiar with all of us, too, from the show, which helps."

The lineup has longstanding relationships with the Opie and Anthony program - something the jocks have fostered over the years, by inviting comics on a regular basis to hang out, share their lives and join the airtime shenanigans.

"It's not just a radio show putting on a comedy show," Cumia said. "The audience has a vested interest in every comic who is part of the show. Their crises, their addictions, their vices - the audience knows these people."

Note: Parts of this report originally appeared in the New York Daily News. More from Patrice Oneal, Robert Kelly and Jim Norton after the jump.