Last Thursday was the first of a series of Stand-Up Comedy/Burlesque/Bizarro performances called Naked Lobster Cabaret. In case you missed the poster before, here it is again:
This was the first in a series of bimonthly events but together by Portland comedian and friend of bizarro Whitney Streed. She has a great essay up on her blog detailing her logic in putting the event together.
She had urged me to go “all out” for the event. Taking her words to heart, I spent the immediate 48 hours before the event constructing a city out of cardboard.
Truth be told, I was a bit nervous on the morning of the event. This was my first time doing a non-shatnerquake related performance and, par for the course, I was not finished making my props. I spent all day scrambling to make sure I had things reading for that night. Amazingly, when it came time to go to the Hawthorne Lounge, I was ready.
Whitney started off the night with some comedy to the fifty person crowd.
Christian Ricketts was up next.
Angelique DeVil was the Burlesque entertainment for the night.
I represented Bizarro. This night marked my first performance promoting Super Giant Monster Time!
The “set” took a few minutes to ready. Any decent giant monster performance needs cardboard buildings.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Super Giant Monster Time! The only show that lets you, the audience, live out your greatest dream – smashing this city to the fucking ground.”
I got my audience “volunteers” and it was time to transform them into fearsome beasts.
Super Ass!
Banana Man X
Totally Awesome Robot!
Now that I had my giant monsters it was time for them to strut their stuff. This is why I had spent hours making cardboard buildings, to have them destroyed in seconds by drunk people.
Totally Awesome Robot totally stole the show with the following move:
Nobody leaves Super Giant Monster Time empty handed. I carefully hand crafted individual awards for each of the competitors.
Then it was all over and all that was left was a giant pile of cardboard in the back corner of the bar.
Dax Jordan finished out the night with some more jokes.
I had a great time taking part in Naked Lobster Cabaret. I don’t approach my performances as readings and from the reaction I’ve gotten to them, the audience doesn’t see them that way either. I’ve been called a “performance artist,” a “prop comedian,” and “drunken punk that breaks things.” Lately I’ve been finding myself performing at large fan conventions, and while fun, are not the ideal place for me to do my thing – namely they have no alcohol. I feel most at home in bars and house parties where people are normally more relaxed and are not expecting the crazy I bring to the show.
This performance was especially different as I was the lone writer on the bill. I really enjoyed being a part of such a diverse group of performers. It also reminded me why I live in Portland, OR – where else can you get giant monsters, sex appeal, and comedy?
Super Giant Thank You to Whitney Streed for putting this together.
As alluded to earlier in this post, Naked Lobster Cabaret will be a bimonthly event with different performers each time. The next show will be in April and the final line-up hasn’t been announced but I can hint that Whitney is putting together a stellar line-up. Each show will have a different Bizarro author and best Bizarro performers are already on board to do it, so anybody in the Portland area needs to come check this out.
Check out Whitney Streed’s write-up of the event here.
Special thanks to Rose O’Keefe for the pictures.
