Title : "Kathy Griffin goes for 3 funny hours at the Chicago Theatre without an opener or even a breath."
link : "Kathy Griffin goes for 3 funny hours at the Chicago Theatre without an opener or even a breath."
"Kathy Griffin goes for 3 funny hours at the Chicago Theatre without an opener or even a breath."
Writes Zach Freeman in the Chicago Tribune about the show Thursday night, which I attended.Even knowing that she’s drawing it out, intentionally misdirecting the audience with segues that lead to further segues that lead back to earlier... topics, it’s hard to begrudge Griffin the time, as she manages to stay engaging and funny (if not completely linear) throughout her set. Her singular ability to turn a seemingly endless monologue into something that feels like a conversation (with a packed theater, no less) is captivating....I liked the cramming and freaking out. It was the idea of the show. It was the theater of desperation and heroic fighting for survival. It didn't so much matter what she talked about. She had been knocked down hard by the media establishment. The story was presented in a short video before she leapt onto the stage and ran from one end to the other with her arms waving in the air, Rocky-style....
Just to be clear, three hours is almost unheard of for a stand-up show, especially for a touring headliner in a venue like the Chicago Theatre.... I’ve reviewed more than 50 comedians and I’ve only seen one other show where a single comic did more than two hours. It was Kathy Griffin, last year in Skokie at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts. There’s no way around it: this tour is a comedy show styled as a rambling epic. And it’s masterful, even if it’s not a masterpiece....
Rather than cramming in so much material that she pushes up against the cut-off times for venues — “I have so much to get to in a half hour, I’m freaking out!” she remarked at 10:30 p.m. Thursday.... with a little editing, which could risk pulling in fewer laughs, but delivering a bigger payoff, it could go down as historical comedic commentary on freedom of speech, how the governmental apparatus can be used (or misused) and the place of comedians in pushing boundaries.
The audience, full of fans, went wild. A screaming standing O to begin. And she launched into her motor-mouthing and did not stop for 3 hours. And we were told there was a hard 11:00 deadline. She made talking into a sport, as if there was something she needed to get done in time or disaster would strike. It was a convincing imposition of time pressure, successfully used to create immense energy, even as, really, it should be mind-crushing to be yammered at for 3 hours by one person would endlessly digresses and frets about getting back to a list of subject before the clock strikes eleven. I looked at my iPhone when she ended, and it was 10:59. Yay! She did it! Her self-imposed goal, which she made us believe in and care about. The crowd went wild, immense standing O to end it.
What were the jokes? Was anything really that funny? More than anything else, what I remember (2 days later) is the overall barrage of talk, spoken with constant excitement and urgency and how upbeat and fun it was. This wasn't dark comedy by a grumbling, angry outcast. This was continual I-will-survive mode and an insistent demand for love from this audience — You're all I have!!! — that was met every time by the adoring crowd.
I remember her being funny on the subject of Trump's phobia about walking down stairs. Does Trump have a phobia about stairs? I hadn't heard that one, but I've looked it up and there was at least a thing about Trump having a phobia about stairs. That's all she needs in her method. A rumor and idea that was out there, and then it's funny to just act like it is real and she's bringing the news, letting us in on details that she is somehow privy to.
But mostly there are no particular jokes. There's rambling, frenetic, dramatic, crazed talk that will not end. By design, the part about how the government came after her for posing holding a ketchup-covered replica Trump head is squeezed right up against the hard 11:00 deadline. That was the idea! It doesn't need editing to make it fit more comfortably!!! Being unedited and wildly digressive and spontaneous and crashing into the curfew was the whole point!
Brilliantly done. Comedy as sport. Well played.
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