Hotline: Jockeying for Underwear dancing crown
By Michael Marotta
The Boston Herald, April 30th, 2008

Only in America can someone win $25,000 by dancing around in his underwear.

West Roxbury-based comedian Chris Coxen is one of two finalists in Jockey Underwear’s online Underwars tournament, where viewers vote on their favorite clips of dudes dancing around in tighty-whities or boxer shorts.

Voting for the final round, in which Coxen battles the dubiously monikered Cheato in the Hips N’ Hurricanes bracket, begins today at jockeyunderwars.com.

Coxen dances under the name “Danny Morsel,” a personality in his comedy show, “League of Characters,” which he’ll perform at the Cambridge YMCA Theatre on Saturday. Voting concludes Friday at midnight, so by the time Coxen takes the stage he could be our generation’s Internet answer to Tom Cruise in “Risky Business.”

“The thing I love about this is that when you vote, you’re not just supporting a guy who is trying to win $25,000 by dancing in his underwear, you are supporting the concept of a guy who is trying to win $25,000 by dancing in his underwear,” Coxen told Hotline. “That is a powerful and beautiful concept.”

Who can argue with that?

Coxen destroyed the preliminary competition, amassing a 4-0 record, with one tie. His success stems from a clip of him prancing around Brookline Street near Fenway Park on Patriots Day, as a part-mortified, part-bemused Red Sox Nation looks on.

“I’ll be going down to Fenway in my underwear again a couple times this week just to promote the match,” he said.

Coxen promises to unveil never-before-seen footage of him dancing around the ballpark at his show on Saturday, which also features guest comedian Brian Longwell, digital artist Jeff Mission and others. For information, go to chriscoxen.com.

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