Stand Up Guys
Okay, we see why Gothamist loves Todd Barry. But local boys Ryan Stout and Jim Short made good last night, too. If you haven't been to the Purple Onion yet, it really is a great experience. We went for a special night of Asian-American comedians in May who were absolutely hilarious, and fell in love with the brick-walled, plush-boothed underground funnyplace. We'd think it were a little toooo themey if it wasn't so unpretentious and didn't have the estimable history that it does.
Local pretty-boy Ryan Stout opened the evening with a deceptively funny act. Just on the edge of tasteless, and sometimes over, he brought it around with high-minded segues and a high-concept twist. He's got polish, not just to his timing and delivery, but to his professional deference. In classy fashion, he reminded us to tip the staff before introducing the feature act (Short) and as we left the club.
Jim Short is the current San Francisco International Comedy Competition title holder. An Australian who's been in the Bay Area around ten years, he has the Aussie flair for skewering the English. But one of his first bits was about San Francisco's health insurance for city employees covering sexual reassignment story. "Our bus system is still kinda dodgy," he lamented, imagining himself stuck on the Judah arguing with a city employee: "Get me off the N-Train and I'll buy you some lipstick!"
His bits on the difference of American and English newscasters was spot-on, finding out about the recent tsunami late because of his TiVo and a long rant that drew a chorus of guffaws about Clippy, the Microsoft Word talking paperclip, were belly-laughers. His timing is good, but the set was a little scattered, and his stage presence is self-deprecating to say the least. If we weren't mistaken, he had prepared notes that he referenced occassionally during the act. Doesn't mean he wasn't funny.
Todd Barry, on the other hand, is an arrogant bastard in the best way possible. His unassuming stature and mien are belied by his constant smirk, making his neurotic egoism surprising. At one point he admonished the audience "If I don't get the laugh I think I deserved, I'll point out that you missed one there." Genius. Big laugh.
His rambling, free form style is delivered in a near-monotone, quietly (though he played on this at the end to spectacular results). To answer the "What would your receipt from a prostitute look like?" question, he joked about an escort service ad in the yellow book promising "No hidden fees." He mimicked paging through a bill from the competition: "Rust Proofing, $50? Late fee? Oh, okay. That's understandable."
His exchanges with the audience were well played. After being corrected by someone in the front row that his UK shirt was for the University of Kansas and not the University of Kentucky, Barry joked, "I'm mad at this guy. So is the University of Kansas in Topeka?" "No, Lawrence." "Now I'm not joking angry, I'm angry angry." When the guy in the audience told Todd that he majored in Music Business, Todd smiled and shot back, "Well, you're right in the heart of the music scene in Lawrence." He then turned to the audience and joked, "I destroyed that guy," a sweetly self-deprecating tagline if we've ever heard one.
You can catch the whole act tonight at 10:30 (the late shows seem to be busier) or tomorrow at 8pm or again at 10:30. There's no food at the Purple Onion, but you can get Han Soju cocktails, beer and wine to lubricate the laughter. We're looking forward to crashing Harmon Leon's upcoming gig on July 23rd.