The other night I saw something wonderful. I went to see 'Give Me 5' at The Playground which is a 5 minute solo performance competition. I knew most of the people performing and I'm always curious about the kind of solo stuff people write. I was entertained although not very surprised about most of the content until the last performer got up: Gary Richardson.
Gary is a friend who I've coached and performed with for a while now. His 5 minutes started off with someone introducing him as stand up Darryl Tubs. He warmed up the crowd by letting us know this was his 10 o'clock show not his 8 o'clock show. This was his dirty show. Then he started in on his act. Gary told a story about being in an ice cream parlor when an Italian woman and her son came in. The mother asked the son what kind of ice cream he wanted and he replied "poo-poo ice cream". What followed was one of the ballsiest performances I've seen in a while. For 5 minutes Gary went after and tore down Italians using slurs like wop, gabbagool, goombah, greaseball, and guinea. The gist of all stemming from this woman's child being dumb for calling chocolate ice cream poo-poo ice cream. After his time was already up he got serious and told a story about his girlfriend being killed by an Italian in a car accident. His set concluded with him being disqualified from the competition for using racial slurs, him picking up his bag, and leaving the theater.
I was entranced from the beginning. The rest of the audience seemed not to know how to take it. Gary committed so hard to playing this character and aggressively and offensively disparaging Italians. Of course Gary doesn't hate Italians and there is another level to the performance. Possibly a comment on that kind of set. Or a comment on that kind of comedy taken to an extreme in order to make a point. I understood that instinctually possibly because I know Gary but I think more so because anyone with any comedy experience would realize this kind of attack isn't funny taken on a superficial level.
Gary went up there and sold it. He committed to being unlikable and saying offensive things. He did it with an edge which was in-your-face forcing the audience to react. Which they did, me with joy the rest with confusion and some with dislike. It was a risk which he took and didn't apologize for. It wasn't safe, it wasn't some regurgitation of a bit that has been done before and it wasn't some standard observational humor. I applaud the risk.
Gary's set wasn't about putting down Italians, although that was the content. It was about something on another level. And that is something I'm always delighted to see. Something I wish I saw more of.
Take a risk. Do something different. Surprise us.
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