Portrayed as a villain in some circles, Charlie Sheen nonetheless managed to cultivate a strong following in the wake of his “Two and a Half Men” issues. Thanks to concepts like “winning” and “tiger blood,” Sheen became an Internet sensation and seemed to have millions of fans right where he wanted in terms of a next commercial move.
Along the way, however, Sheen seemed to be losing support by broadening the issue from the more logical, appealing ‘I’m this crazy guy living a bitchin’ lifestyle who’s getting told by suits that I can’t be cool.’ Still, his “My Violent Torpedo of Truth” tour at least made waves initially, as fans were intrigued to see what a live Sheen show would entail.
The reviews for the show’s Detroit opening on Saturday were not pretty.
“What the audience got was egomania gone wild,” THR wrote, adding “He alternately pandered to and antagonized an estimated audience of 5,000 people at the Fox Theatre in a blatantly cynical attempt to cash in on his craziness. Roughly paraphrased, his excuse for having barely worked out the blueprint for an act was, “Hey, you guys paid for a show when you didn’t know what you were getting!”
Sheen reportedly started out with some support but was quickly booed by an increasingly-soured, disillusioned crowd. His stories were criticized for not being exciting or outrageous enough, and THR notes that “despite Sheen’s assurance several times that things were about to get radical, they just got boring.”
Ultimately, amid chants like “loser” and “you suck,” Sheen left the stage for a musical and clips break and said he would return when the crowd had woken up. There are mixed reports that he ever did, but it certainly would not have been before the show appeared to be over.
EW wrote of the show: ‘The show is now an unmitigated disaster. There’s a fairly steady stream of people leaving early. Attendee Chris Acchione, a self-described Sheen fan who traveled all the way from Toronto for the show, says his entire mezzanine row walked out. “He’s making a fool of himself,” he says. “Is there a bigger loser in the world? He’ll be [begging] Chuck Lorre for his job back by the end of the week.”’
“Mr. Sheen was more or less booed off the stage,” wrote the New York Times, adding, “Mr. Sheen, greeted with frenzied cheers, wore out his welcome quickly with a rambling monologue he called his “Manny-fest-oh,” a verbose tribute to his own genius and a rebuke to the various “trolls” who have tried to hold him down.”