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Contra Costa Times "Walks this Way" Review (2003)
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S.F.'s Lobsters take a walk on the silly side
By Pat Craig
Originally published by Costa Contra Times, November 10. 2003
(c)2003, All rights reserved.
The ghosts of burlesque and vaudeville that no doubt haunt the elderly Victoria Theatre were grinning in the rafters this weekend when the San Francisco-based sketch comedy group Killing My Lobster opened its new, anything-for-laughs piece, "Walks This Way."
To call this "something for the whole family" could be the kiss of death for KML and it Mission District location. The busy weekend scene there is aimed primarily at twenty somethings, who were evident in the big numbers and laughing heartily. But what I mean by "the whole family" is that the show not only appeals to young people whose experience in sketch and blackout comedy is rooted in "Sesame Street," with its lightning fast vignettes and non-sequitur, but also the older, more sedentary family members who were laughing at the style of stuff about as long as people were trying to make giggles a byproduct of being silly.
Of course, back in the days of vaudeville circuits and the burlesque shows, nobody was doing bits about Donkey Kong, cell phones and restaurants that are cloyingly fun, fun, fun.
But bring the grandparents and parents, anyway-they need to get out, and if they have any energy left after the show, they'll fill you with tales of how they used to see this downtown at the vaudeville theaters or on televisions with "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In." If they are a bit more cerebral, they will remark how much of the style is reminiscent of Bob and Ray on the radio, "Tonight Show" era Steve Allen, and some of the pioneer video comedy of Ernie Kovacs.
What you youngsters might want to point out to the older folks is that there really isn't anything new under the sun, all comedy is derivative, and "Walks This Way" is we're all pretty doggone silly, no matter how we try to hide it behind our veneer of cool du jour.
So the group built brief sketches and blackouts of improvisation around ordinary life, tweaking it ever so slightly and making it, for the most part, wonderfully hilarious. And despite what the demographers lust for, there appear to be no particular age limits on the targets for Lobster bites. If you're breathing and the least little bit silly, you are fair game. No matter what your walk in life, you will see yourself stroll by on the two-level set by Aiyana Trotter, and you will laugh.
OK, not every bit hits a home run, but if this were baseball, the Lobsters would be batting around .800, and the pieces race by so quickly, you hardly notice the groundouts and double plays.
Adding immeasurably to the evening's fun is the music of Adult Rodeo, a two-piece band that includes, as part of its music, rude noses, strange electronic sounds and the sort of take-no-prisoners attitude that makes the group the perfect accompaniment for comedy.
You may notice at this point that no single performances have been mentioned. And that is for the simple reason that the Lobsters are identified by name, but not by their roles or pictures. They are: James Bewley, Melanie Case, Tonya Glanz, Daniel Lee, Ian Scott, Sarah Mitchell, Becky Stark, Shaye Troha, Rufus Tureen and Gabe Weisert. They are all funny. (For the record, the bits that made me laugh the hardest were Donkey Kong, the visitor at the side of the door, the restaurant, and two comic strip teases, including one by a man in a bear costume).
This is a show that deserves a long run in a permanent home. And with work like this, Killing My Lobster should really be a full-time fixture on the Bay Area comedy scene.
Pat Craig is the Times theater critic. Reach him at 925-945-4736 or pcraig@cctimes.com
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