Monday night I got to see how a bad venue and a bad crowd can kill a good night of comedy. Tell Your Friends had all the makings of a great show, Eugene Mirman, Christian Finnegan, Liam McEneaney and Claudia Cogan, all very funny people, were scheduled to perform. So I was surprised when I arrived (late), and only 15 people were there. Not that there would’ve been room for any more. The downstairs of Lolita is long and narrow and everyone had to sit in a line along the wall. It was very awkward staging and that, paired with the size of the audience, made it a difficult show.
Tell Your Friends opened with a folk duo, A Brief View of the Hudson, and it set a mellow vibe for the rest of the night. It’s hard to get into a crazy laughing mood when you’ve just been chilled out, unless you like to laugh at folk singers, like I do. But if they are meant to be taken seriously, I think that they should play at the end.
Everyone who performed was funny–some more than others–but they kept being met with silence. I think Tell Your Friends suffers from what happens to a lot of shows in New York: lack of advertising and space. Mirman and Finnegan were doing bits that I have seen kill at other venues, but weren’t going over well here. That might be another reason that there weren’t many out-loud laughs; most of the material being performed wasn’t new. Even if it had never been on stage before, it had been posted on a blog (Cogan, McEneaney. . . I’m looking at you). But I’m probably the only one that noticed that.
And this is just one chapter! There are 12 chapters (so far; the saga hasn’t ended yet.)
And as if that wasn’t funny enough, on Saturday night, at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, Ulysses S. Ferrero (Aziz Ansari) and Eliot Rosenblatt (Eric Appel) put together a group of experts to watch and comment on this great masterpiece as it was inducted into the Smithsonian. The panel consisted of a hip hop safety expert, the head of craft services from the filming of TITC(Nick Kroll), the token lesbian, the everyman (Todd Barry) and special guest star, The Closet (David Cross). Read the rest of this entry »
I just got back from the ’secret’ (and free) Franz Ferdinand show at Hammerstein Ballroom. It’s really weird going to a matinee concert. I thought that knowing it was daylight outside would keep me from enjoying it, but once inside, it was impossible to tell I wasn’t at a regular evening performance.
I was told that we might just be going to a sound check. But it wasn’t, it was a full set. In fact it was better then a regular show. There was no pretense. Franz Ferdinand came out. Some of them looked amused, some of them look tired. They started to play. They started to have fun. One of them took off his shoes. They took requests from the 500 person audience, which was full of die hard (and young!) fans. They let a bunch of people get on stage and sing along. They did NOT play Take Me Out. Three of them started playing the same drum kit at once. They finished their set and left the stage (they had to go rest for their show tonight). All in all, it was pretty awesome.
The concert was a ’secret’ because in order to get in you had to add them to your MySpace friend list. The genius who came up with this should get a promotion. I’m sure hundreds of people joined MySpace yesterday, just to get a ticket. But I was pretty impressed that no advertising was shoved down our throats once we got there, just a couple of simple banners on the side. There was a massive line to get in, but inside there was room to move around (it was only about 1/3 full on the floor and the mezzanines were empty). Even though I know it’s a terrible marketing ploy, I was really happy with it. I would recommend one of these shows to anyone in a position to go (they are supposedly having them all over the country, just add MySpace Secret Shows to your friend list to find out where and when).
[I also got to use my fancy new camera to capture some video, which will be posted soonish - check back for it this weekend]
I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art today to check out the special exhibition Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh. With the exception of learning her personal story, which is pretty fascinating, the exhibit wasn’t really that exciting. It looked like every other exhibit I’ve ever seen about mummies, except that there were no actual mummies.
One thing I did notice was that there were a lot more ‘girly items’ on display, which was kind of fun. There was all kinds of jewelry; rings, bracelets, cuffs, armbands, necklaces, belly-necklaces, ornate clasps, collars, rings, earrings and a diadem(a decorative headpiece). There were also a couple of jewelry boxes a some other toiletries, like powder boxes, kohl jars and applicators, combs, tweezers, ointment jars, cosmetic jars, cosmetic spoons (which were purely decorative and meant to be ‘cute’), hand mirrors and even a razor(yes, hers — did they shave their legs back then?).
Overall, I’d say don’t go out of your way to go to this exhibit, but if you’re in the Met anyway, wander through it. It runs until July 9th, and be sure to download The Special Exhibition Podcast to your iPod (cheaper than the $6 they charge there).
[Just in case you are lame like me and don’t know how to subscribe to a podcast, here’s how to do it (in iTunes): 1) click on Podcasts in the left menu 2) choose advanced from the top menu 3)choose subscribe to podcast and 4)paste in the URL (the one above, that ends in .xml) ]
DISCLAIMER: I know it’s bad form to review a play while it’s still in previews, but what can you do, I’m crazy like that. If anybody has a problem with it, they can give me an official press ticket and then I’ll obey the rules.
Go buy tickets right now for Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of The Threepenny Opera playing at Studio 54. The play will be ‘officially’ reviewed in a week, and after that it will be impossible to get tickets. There. Now don’t say I never gave you anything.
For those of you who have never heard of the play, let me give you some background. Written in 1928 by Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera is the story of a young girl who gets involved with a sociopathic murderer. But this is not your typical young ingenue in trouble story, its a social statement about the hypocrisy of conventional morality.
Brecht thought that theatre should provoke the viewer to question their own beliefs, and he didn’t think you could do that if you only connected to the piece on an emotional level. So he tried to make sure the viewer is always thinking, always rational. He does this through use of episodic scenes, harsh realities and no illusions. You are meant to always be aware you are watching a play.
One of the reasons I’m telling you this is because I know a lot of you are not fans of the typical Broadway musical. But this is nothing like a typical Broadway show. In fact, the only reason it’s a musical is because Brecht was mocking the genre and throwing in random songs as part of his ‘alienation technique’ to keep you thinking.
Now let me tell you the REAL reason you should go see this play: Alan Cumming. He plays the role of MacHeath, aka Mack the Knife (yes, like the Bobby Darin song but no, it’s a lot different when they sing it in the play). He is mesmerizing as the ruthless thief, womanizer, man-izer, rapist, arsonist and murderer who seduces poor Polly away from her parents. Cumming masterfully portrays the dichotomy of villain and martyr, and not only does the audience understand why Polly ran off with him, but I think half of them are ready to, as well (myself included).
Last night I went to see comedian Patton Oswalt at Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction, a cozy little three-tiered club on Avenue A. Let me tell you something: If you get hold of a time machine and go back and see this show, you will be as satisfied as Mo Pitkin himself, whoever that is.
You may know Patton Oswalt from his hilarious Comedy Central travelogue The Comedians of Comedy, or his role as the fat guy’s friend on King of Queens. He also looks strikingly like my friend C.B.:
Patton Oswalt (on the left) C.B.(on the right)
Regardless, he is a terribly clever and natural comic with a penchant for the geeky. His set was short but well worth the six dollars, and thoroughly pleased the sold-out crowd.
He was preceeded by Upright Citizens Brigade - based comedian Aziz Ansari, who recently won the Best Standup Award at the prestigious Aspen Comedy Festival, and the guy was freaking hilarious. He delivered a long overdue tirade against the absurdity of Cold Stone Creamery (do NOT tip those guys!), and showed his very funny video called “The Illusionators“. John Glaser was in it, so that was cool. Do yourself a favor and check him out! He speaks Tamil!
I’ve been to a vet, and I’ve been to a hospital, but until today I’d never been anywhere like the Animal Medical Center. It’s a four story hospital with dogs rolling by on gurneys, people in blue scrubs walking through the halls and doctors being paged over the loudspeaker. It’s like E.R. for pets.
The staff was friendly, the wait was long (just like a human hospital!) and the doctors were knowledgeable, but more importantly they were patient and kind. The lobby (which, unfortunately, did smell like dog pee) was filled with anxious people waiting to hear how their pets were doing. There was a palatable fear in the air. When you bring a pet to the ER, you never know if you’re going to get them back. The full range of human emotion was on display here: squeals of joy when interns came out with a healthy pet to wails of sorrow when someone was told a loved one had to be put down.
At the same time I was in the waiting room, a benefit for the hospital was going on downtown. The 7th Annual ‘Paws for Style” featured ‘dogs on the catwalk’ with celebrity walkers and designers Bebe Neuwirth, Michael Kors, Gucci and more. At $100 a head, it wasn’t the kind of event I could have afforded to be at. But after spending my afternoon at the AMC, I’m glad there are people who could.
The Animal Medical Center is expensive, but hopefully benefits like these can help keep costs down, because it should be accessible to everyone. When it’s a life or death situation, it’s nice to have a place that takes your pet’s health as seriously as you do.
Hey, did you know that it’s Brooklyn’s restaurant week? That’s right, between now and April 11th is Dine-In Brooklyn (NSFW, because when you open that link Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz will yell at you about how excited he is about all the different kinds of food available).
So for the next week, you can get a three course meal for $20.06, or at some restaurants TWO people can have a three course meal for $20.06. What a deal.
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And as if that wasn’t funny enough, on Saturday night, at the 
I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art today to check out the special exhibition 
couple of jewelry boxes a some other toiletries, like powder boxes, kohl jars and applicators, combs, tweezers, ointment jars, cosmetic jars, cosmetic spoons (which were purely decorative and meant to be ‘cute’), hand mirrors and even a razor(yes, hers — did they shave their legs back then?).
Now let me tell you the REAL reason you should go see this play: 
At the same time I was in the waiting room, a benefit for the hospital was going on downtown. The 7th Annual ‘