Fringe: Phil the Void - The Great Brain Robbery

Phil Van Hest (of LA)

Wow. I'd say Phil's "traditional standup" compared to the other comedy shows I've reviewed here, except that there's nothing traditional about Phil.

This is thinking man's standup: it's deeply thoughtful, not an exaggeration to call it intellectual, even---and funny as hell. Phil reaches for the highest common denominator and finds both the disturbing and the funny elements in life.

The phrase that comes to mind is "like Bill Cosby---only smarter."


Piggie's Rating: *****

(Get thee to a Phil the Void show *early*---Phil consistently sells out the house.)

Fringe: Wanda & Rhonda's Bitchin' Bingo Bash

Tony McDonald & Adam O. Crowe (of Noblesville IN)
with links to Tony's facebook and myspace pages.

I stand in awe of Tony McDonald's writing. Wanda and Rhonda---the pair of middle-aged sisters that he and Adam portray---are women you know. He's got the authentic voice of these gals down, and he approaches them with compassion and affection, despite the fact that given the divergence between their views, one of them's got to have a pretty alien point of view from where Tony is. And the acting is equally affectionate; the honesty of the portrayal comes in part because they're not making fun of Wanda and Rhonda; at best they're teasing a bit.

And they are funny, but it's the warm and homey funny of reality, not a contrived, scripted funny.

Piggie's Rating: ****

Fringe: Hypothetically Stupid

Doctor Spaceship (Matt Kramer and John Patrick Coan) (of Indy)

These guys were reasonably funny. Traditional "two guy sketch" type comedy. That should be enough, no?

There wasn't anything that stood out about them or their gags; nothing to make you remember them or seek them out again at a later date. They weren't bad, they just didn't excel.


Piggie's Rating: **

Fringe: The Attack of the Big Angry Booty

This is subtitled The Adventures of Les Kurkendaal (of LA), with a couple of links to his pages at MySpace and facebook.

Les's tales of diet woes---his and others'---are funny. There's no question about that. But this is not just your everyday standup of laughing at other people, or in rueful recognition that we're included in "other people." Les manages to mix funny with compassion in a subtle fashion so that when he's done, not only has your funny-bone been thoroughly tickled, but your spirit has been fed as well. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, and will certainly look Les up next year if he's at the Fringe....but he also came across as a guy I wish lived in my neighborhood. All in all, a thoroughly pleasant experience, I definitely recommend it.

Piggie's Rating: ****

It's Fringe Time!

What follows over the next week will be my reviews of shows at the IndyFringe festival. I'll admit up front that since I'm out of work at the moment, everything I'm seeing, I'm seeing for free---either because I'm working that venue, or because I'm using my freebies I get for working the venues.

That said, here's my definition of ratings:

* = can I get my time back I spent watching this?
** = it was okay for a freebie
*** = that was right fine for a freebie, and would have been worth paying for
**** = would go out of my way to see this for real money, for sure
***** = wow. why ain't these folks on tv?

Do they come with cages?

I've been hearing things oddly for years. It's tempting to write it off to "old age", but it's been going on since far before I was old by anyone's definition except maybe a toddler.

It comes in part from minor hearing loss, I'm sure; it requires the intervention of distance from the source and background noise interfering as well. And oft-sloppy enunciation on the part of the announcer can also contribute. But it leads to mishearing things---usually advertisements---in a way that makes them far more interesting that anything that could have possibly been the actual intent of the advertiser.

I still want to know what Marie Osmond was selling, 20 years ago, that I heard across my mother's house as "Romanian underwear."

And I just heard a commercial for one of those "buy diet meals in quantity" companies that I'd swear included the line "order now and get free weasels for a week!" This has left me with a number of questions:

• Is that a set number of weasels who come to visit for a week?
  
• Or do weasels keep arriving at some set rate for a week?
  
• Are the weasels yours to keep?
  
• Do the weasels simply come to visit before wandering off through your neighborhood?
  
• Or does someone turn up at the end of the week to collect the weasels?
  
• If so, do they bill you for any escaped weasels?
  
• Are the weasels litterbox trained?
  
• If not, are the costs of having the house cleaned covered, or are you out of pocket on this one?
  
• And finally, do the weasels bring their *own* meals, or are they going to be eating the diet meals you've just bought?
  

I'm not sure "free weasels" would be all that much of an incentive to buy their product....but I'm sure it's a more interesting concept than what they're actually selling. :)

Surreal Moments in Feline Observation....

Making a salad. Oops, one crouton drops to the floor. Before I can pick it up, Astra pounces on it and starts chewing.

Hillary runs over to see what Astra's found.

"Grrrrr," says Astra. "This is MY crouton. I LOVE croutons. I'm going to EAT this crouton, and I am NOT going to share!"

"Mommy, mommy!" says Hillary. "Astra has a CROUTON! I'm the baby! I DON'T have a crouton! I NEED a crouton! This is a CRISIS!"

I give Hillary (age 3 months) a crouton. She dives into it.

I wander off to take out the garbage, and then return to eat my salad.

And notice that there on the floor are two whole, albeit slightly soggy croutons......