Tag: Comedy

Review: Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan: Guilty of Laughter

Danny Fob

This Sunday night I went to the Power Center (my favorite campus venue) to see the Druid and Atlantic Theater Company production of Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan. It was crazy funny! We laughed so hard at the dry Irish humor. The actors were so talented. No matter how much we laughed or what crazy things they did on stage, not a one of them ever broke character. And they did some pretty ridiculous things, including breaking eggs on heads, being incredibly boring to the point of laughter, and beating on each other.

The play is set on the small island of Inishmaan in 1934. There is nothing of interest happening on the island, so the people are forced to consider things such as sheep being born without ears to be interesting. Also in this category of things that should be reported; Cripple Billy is staring at cows again, a goose bit a cat, the egg man’s eggs didn’t lay today, and, what’s this? A team of Hollywood moviemakers are on the next island filming a movie? This really is big news! In fact, it’s the biggest news that the town gossip/self-proclaimed news carrier John Patine Mike has ever had. So big that a group of townspeople are sailing over to the island to see the filming and hopefully get a chance at acting in it. Billy Claven, called Cripple Billy by most on account of his severe deformities, is one interested in going. After winning the heart of the boatman with a doctor’s note reporting his eminent death, he sails with the group. Fortune smiles on him and Billy go’s to America for the chance of starring in a film about a cripple in Ireland. What a chance!

Throughout the production, constant jokes, insults, and egg throwing keeps the audience laughing and saying “I can’t believe they just said that!” Constantly people praise their homeland with the phrase “Ireland must not be such a bad place if dentists/Frenchmen/colored fellas/earless sheep/Americans want to come here.” The younger brother of the love interest, Helen McCormick, constantly talks of sweeties from America and his obsession with telescopes. Helen chucks eggs, swears like a sailor, and is the village slut that no one knows about (in order to maintain the name of the actual one and to avoid competition). The aunts that adopted Billy both have their quirks. One eats the sweets of their shop when stressed, the other talks to rocks when she’s worried. John Patine Mike has tried and failed to kill his mother for 65 years by giving her constant alcohol. There is so much comedy and brilliant writing in this production that it’s hard not to laugh, even when the setting makes the word “Cripple” a joke. You sort of feel guilty laughing when the characters, even his loving aunts, make fun of Billy’s disabilities. But then you remember the setting and realize it is realistic; what would have actually happened, and it’s okay to laugh.

The play was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I would thoroughly enjoy it if the Druid and Atlantic Theater Company returned to the Power Center in the future. It takes an open mind and a taste for dry humor to understand the comedy of this play. It also takes a sensitive character to understand the sadness, emotion, and tragic life that Cripple Billy leads. I would strongly advise going to plays like this. Everyone can learn and laugh a little from such a production and I am very happy to have attended.

As always,
This is Danny Fob: Artist and Art Reviewer

A Serious Man: Seriously Good

Jessica 1 Comment
A Serious Man, click to view trailer
A Serious Man, click to view trailer

A Serious Man, the new Coen brothers’ film, is not one of those indie flicks that take you on some long-winded journey in an attempt to make you feel empowered and boisterous. But rather, this witty film spins you around and around in circles until you get dizzy. And when you catch your breath to refocus, you realize you are exactly where you started off: comfortable and confused.

A Serious Man, features Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) a father, husband and physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university.  He is a figure everyone can relate to. Larry is somewhere in his 40’s, has a stable career, and what would seem like a stable life. His hopeless brother Arthur (Richard Kind) yells at him for being given everything. However, the grass is always greener on the other side, Larry is tormented with the everyday.

The everyday, in Larry’s case is: Bribery from students for a passing grade; a wife heavily engaged in a love affair- ensuing a request for a divorce; a daughter who launders his money for the purpose of a nose job; a financial and emotionally dependent brother; a taunting naked sun-bathing neighbor and an anonymous writer who sends vulgar letters to the University in an effort to hinder his chances at tenure. Okay, so this is not everyone’s everyday qualms; but everybody has those little everyday issues that poke at us, as they squeal for a non-existent resolution.

In an attempt to rid himself of the constantly jabbing everyday qualms, Larry turns to the temple­­–more specifically, the Rabbi. Larry meets with three different Rabbis, each of which offers little insight into his dilemmas.  One Rabbi almost outright argues that it all means nothing and that he should just continue on with his life. Of course this was not the eye-opening insight Larry, or the viewer was hoping for. With this analysis, Larry continues to continue with the everyday, struggling and juggling his problems as the plot bounces between dilemmas.

So, I guess the question becomes, why watch a movie that just makes you dizzy? I am no Rabbi, and I too don’t have an answer. But, perhaps it is a chance to get away from our nagging everyday issues and instead, relish in the fact that squirming characters like Larry are getting no further in relinquishing their personal issues than we all are.

Conclusion:  Not a must-see, but a good way to appreciate your own lawn.

Preview: Bill Harley is coming to town

krithika

Ok, so who is Bill Harley and what’s so special about him?

Bill Harley is a two-time Grammy Award winning storyteller and musician. This Massachusetts-based performer is famed for his use of song and story to describe the joys of growing up and family life. He is especially known for his wit and wisdom and is a prolific author. He has won a lot of other awards too- for his books, novels and concert DVDs.

He will give a free family performance at the Ark (The Ark, 316 South Main St, Ann Arbor, MI) on Sunday, November 22 at 1.00 pm.This performance is sponsored by the Ann Arbor District Library.

Later that night, there will be a show exclusively for teenagers and adults at 7.30 pm. Tickets cost $15 for this performance.

More ticket information is available on the Ark web page.

I still dig the good ol’ “Dennis the menace” and “Calvin and hobbes” comics. It is said that Bill Harvey’s show appeal to both the young and the old.

So, if you are in the mood for  some clean laugh-all-you-can good humor, this is for you. I am going to go as I think the kid in me never died.

Yours truly, Krithika, [art]seen reviewer

Review: Robin Williams and His Talking Rectum

Bennett

Twas quite a night for Hill Auditorium when Robin Williams and his raunchy brand of comedy came to town this past Friday.  Having waited since March (after Williams postponed most of his tour in order to have and recover from open-heart surgery) with expensive tickets in hand, the Hill Auditorium crowd was edging to laugh and laugh hard.  A sold-out crowd welcomed Williams, and the two jumbo screens streaming live video of his antics all night, with a long and loud ovation.

Early on, Williams showed he had done his homework.  While many comedians have an established nightly routine, Willliams spent his first 20 minutes clowning on local issues.  Among other topics, he commented on Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan football team (“Coach Rodriguez is having extra practice sessions – not that they’re really helping right now”), Detroit (Canada’s “neighbor with a meth lab”), as well as noting that  “Kwame Kilpatrick makes Marion Berry look like Nelson Mandela”.  This local flavor won the crowd over immediately.

From there, Williams physicality and character humor took center stage.  As we know from his many roles in film, Williams truly becomes his characters.  In his 90-minute set, he became celebrities (Gregory Peck reciting porno lines, Arnold Schwarzenegger failing to pronounce “California”, former MLB pitcher Dock Ellis who pitched a no-hitter on LSD, Joe Biden campaigning for “Barack America”, Walter Kronkite telling a sexual joke- to name a few), animals (Scottish raccoons protesting recycling, a cat antagonizing a dog, and more), and he was, often times, himself- speaking about his heart surgery, his alcoholism, his movies, and his family.

Unfortunately, Williams’s material lost its edge in the second half of the show.  Gone were the local references or the riffs on current events.  Instead, Williams took turns with “Fuck”, “Asshole” (usually referring to his actual ass hole), and “Rectum” to pull laughter from his audience.  His especially vulgar set- a slightly uncomfortable scene for this 19 year old surrounded by the 50+’ers that could afford the tickets- relied upon material that, although consistently drawing a strong response, is no longer fresh.  Along with his talking rectum, Williams continued to mock the already most-ridiculed person of the decade, former President George W. Bush, as well as prolonged rants on the 2008 presidential campaign and Sarah Palin, along with many other not-so-current events.  Yes, Williams has not toured since 2003 so this is perhaps new material for him, but, in the meantime, the rest of the stand-up world, not to mention Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have squeezed this material dry.

Williams left Hill Auditorium to a standing ovation and a pleased crowd.  He made funny faces, did impeccable impersonations, and shocked the crowd with his slew of obscenities and innuendos.  However, despite his early success in commentary on local issues, Williams’s material failed to showcase his status as a master of modern culture.

Bennett Stein.  Ann Arbor, MI. bstei@umich.edu. No Shirt, No Radio-Wednesdays @ Midnight-1:30am.  WCBN.

PREVIEW: Robin Williams’s New Aortic Valve

Bennett 2 Comments

First off, an introduction is in order- My name is Bennett Stein.  I’m a second year undergraduate student from Ann Arbor.  I’ll be writing on this here blog with some type of regularity.  I do encourage you to comment on the posts (“Oh man, Bennett, you’re so full of it.” or “Oh man, Bennett, you’re so god damn handsome” or “Meh, Bennett, you’re pretty so-so”), or, in addition, feel free to email me at bstei@umich.edu.  Finally, tune in to No Shirt, No Radio every Wednesday night from midnight-1:30am on WCBN (88.3 or live stream) where I will continue to spin the funky and the weird every week.

However, the real deal is that Robin Williams is finally performing at Hill Auditorium this Friday night, October 30.  Scheduled to perform here on March 28, Williams was out of commission for the past six months after a surgery to replace his aortic valve, repair his mitral valve, and correct his irregular heartbeat. 

We know Robin Williams mostly from his extensive cinematic career that includes an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Good Will Hunting- one of his least funny roles- as well as outstanding performances in classics such as Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Mrs. Doubtfire and many others.  But, he has also found great success as a stand up comedian.  In 2004, Comedy Central named him 13th on the list of “100 Greatest Stand Up Comedians of All Time”.

Williams is back- he grew up in the Detroit burbs – and healthy and should rock a packed Hill Auditorium.  Ticket prices are steep but there’s no better working comedian out there these days (broken link, updated!).  Find a cracked window-get into Hill this Friday evening.

Robin Williams Stand Up

Bennett.  Ann Arbor, MI.

No Shirt, No Radio, Wednesday night 12-1:30am, WCBN (88.3 or wcbn.org)