Chris Tucker convulses the Tower with humor and impersonating brilliance

Why has Chris Tucker, big-screen comic foil, been crisscrossing the country doing stand-up shows? This is a guy who at the height of his popularity, when the Rush Hour movies made him for a time the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, never worked a day more than he had to.

As he explained at the Tower Theater on Friday night, he owes a towering sum in back taxes. He joked that IRS agents were backstage as he performed, tallying the box office and eating chicken.

His tax troubles are both the impetus and the foundation of his act. He complained about TMZ reporting his debt as more than $14 million. "They don't know how much I owe," he keened, " 'cause I don't know how much I owe."

Tucker, 43, joked about the lifestyle that led to this: "I had a lot of money when I was young. I bought two houses right next to each other. I was my own next-door neighbor."

On stage, as on screen, he's motile and manic. His voice, so high and charged it sometimes sounds frantic, is reminiscent of Jackée Harry of, among other things, the sitcom 227. Tucker dances more during his show than Ellen DeGeneres does during hers.

The lanky Atlantan limbered up with observational humor about his dating history and going out with a white woman. "It was wonderful," he said. "She taught me a lot of stuff. Like how to be on time." It was hard to tell whether he was mocking himself or chiding the Tower audience, which continued to file in as he was wrapping up.

Even romantic material harked back to debt. "I don't want to meet a woman at church," he insisted. "I don't want to meet a woman in the club. I want to meet a woman at the bank cashing a check. . . . That's so sexy."

The night really took off when he talked about people he's worked with. That led to a fantastic flood of impersonations, from Ice Cube (Friday) to Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook). He "loved working with Charlie Sheen" because he "made me look good. I would show up late. Charlie wouldn't show up at all."  

He also showcased his superpower as a vocal impressionist, singing, often with uncanny precision, in the styles of Ron Isley, Anita Baker, Toni Braxton, Chris Brown, even Frank Sinatra. During a fabulous 15-minute routine devoted to his friend Michael Jackson, we heard exquisite simulacra of MJ singing "Human Nature" and the Bee Gees' "How Deep is Your Love." Hope the IRS was happy with its cut, because Tucker definitely gave ticket-holders their money's worth.