REVIEW: Comic Energy goes too far, yet comes up short

Photo | Lauren Seibert

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REVIEW: Comic Energy goes too far, yet comes up short

POSTED: Monday, November 23, 2009, 7:50 PM

Filed Under: Comedy | Movie Review

Photo | Lauren Seibert

On paper, it sounds good: A sketch comedy troupe called Comic Energy performs about 14 sequences of rehearsed scenes, improv and music, while guests get a free drink at the bar and a buffet at Karma NightClub in Bustleton. I attended this show on Sat., Nov. 21, and everyone there was extremely welcoming, from the night club staff to the troupe members to the sweet, slightly-above-middle-age audience. So it pains me to say it, but the show was honestly the worst comedy act I've ever seen. I'm still cringing.

I don't know what terrified me more ' the fact that 'music' meant karaoke from the same two people all night in between the acts (singing songs such as Shaggy's 'Angel' and 'Chantilly Lace' by Jerry Lee Lewis); the adolescent and often just plain nasty humor; the overly dramatic acting; or the offensive racial stereotyping.

They covered every offensive subject known to man: racial slurs, farting, diarrhea, drugs ' all utterly lacking a tongue-in-cheek tone that could have perhaps saved it. Let me walk you through a few Comic Energy scenes. In one, troupe member Gia Seta plays an irritating reporter who sticks her microphone in her unfortunate victim's crotch and tries to talk to his 'McNuggets.' In that same scene, further on, a character shouts, 'Don't tase me, bro!' ' a reference likely lost on an audience not of the YouTube generation. In another scene, producer and troupe member James Daly informs us, 'There's three things I like: breasts, thighs and legs. This morning we have a guest. She's not a chicken, she's a chick.' He then proceeds to act out a talk show with troupe member Mary Sack as the special guest, a doctor who feeds crack to mice. At the end, the cracked-out mice (two troupe members wearing antlers) come out and dance.

Another scene involves actor Frank Fral rolling on the floor, eating his own socks and toes, and smearing Vaseline on his rear to hump the ground while the other actors discuss their sex lives in the background. I had to help myself to another drink during this scene. The scariest part is that I believe he was supposed to be either a baby or a mentally handicapped man ' a character role he filled in many scenes to come. Why is it necessary to link either babies or mental handicap to kinky sex? Barely any audience members laughed during this scene, so it would seem that even fans of Comic Energy (several people in the audience had seen them before) found this a bit gross. Most comedy performances involve sex, but it takes more than plain crudity to carry it off.

Troupe member Walter Threadgill brought a slight tinge of humor to the show through the juxtaposition of his tough appearance (big man with earrings) and cheek-splitting grin, along with the silly lines you'd never expect to emerge from his mouth. For instance, he played a man running a TV news show, and, bored with the news, suggests randomly, 'Let's pretend to be monsters!' Later, he plays a doctor who names a couple's baby for them: Herbert Lucifer Minion. This skit goes on far too long, dragging out a story that lacks substance. Along with abrupt, awkward closures to scenes, dragging story lines seemed to be the theme of the night. Threadgill's line about 'six months of online training in a medical school in Mexico' could have saved it, had they based the scene around that concept instead of focusing on the baby's name.

Beyond the loud and obnoxious characters the troupe chose to portray, the continuous sound cues really detracted from the comedy. True comedians don't need them. Farting sounds for about four minutes straight might have a place in some pre-pubescent class skit, but not in an adult comedy show that should appeal to a higher wit. And really, do we need a skit about a date interrupted by bouts of diarrhea? Accompanied by loud groans and culminating in bathroom sex? Watching this, I wished I hadn't had that drink.

During the middle of the show, a guest standup comedian who declared himself 'half-hillbilly, half-Amish' stunned me with 10 minutes of sheer drunken rambling. He even had a bottle in his back pocket from which he paused to take a swig.

As a final straw, the racial slurs made in many Comic Energy scenes were unaccompanied by any sort of self-deprecating humor that serves to show that the stereotyper the comic is playing is truly the one he's lampooning. Instead, a character speaks to Threadgill, who is black, about 'you people"; and the same Threadgill is the only one in a funeral scene to be carrying a gun and a six pack of beer. Even worse, in a separate scene, a couple climbs into a cab with a turban-wearing driver and tells him, 'Oh, we were kinda hoping for a white cab driver.' After several near-collisions, they then say, 'How would your Arabic ass know how to drive?' Wow. The cabbie doesn't even get a rebuttal line. Cleary, Comic Energy, which started 10 years ago and has had members flow in and out since then, needs to reevaluate its material.

Walter Threadgill

Posted 2009-11-27 02:05:26

Dear Lauren, does this review show up only on the blog, or will we get to see this in print? I don't care that it's scathing, but I feel I should add this to my collection. It'd be dishonest only to collect nice things said about me.

Walter Threadgill

Posted 2009-11-27 01:48:38

LOL! Firstly Phil, I while I understand that this isn't a thread, I just wanted to respond to the other posters here. THANK YOU! Our fans ROCK! The last show we did at Karma was only our second there and anyone who KNOWS this business, knows that it takes more than 2 shows to transport your audience. (We do most of our shows in South Philly). Generally you have to make an announcement of some sort that you're moving to a new locale EXCLUSIVELY. Otherwise your regulars will just wait for you to come back to an old haunt. So the low-ish turnout these last 2 shows at a club (that is less than a month old itself), is in itself, no biggie. Kim there just broke her CE cherry, and wasn't feeling it. Happens. Hopefully she'll show up at another show and maybe we'll win her then. But again: THANKS GUYS. And while this is not a thread, Walter certainly is! (Okay THAT was bad):)

Phillip

Posted 2009-11-27 00:31:27

Saw the show. Not the best I seen from you but we laughed. Does that Kim chick know that shes supposed to reply to the article not other repliers? This isn't a thread yo! LOL!

Kim

Posted 2009-11-26 22:08:09

Your troupe may have been around for 10 years so far, but the jokes are either for an audience not of this generation or people who find humor in odd places. As an attendee and first time viewer of your performance, it wasn't the subject manner that wasn't working, it was that you failed to make it humorous save a (VERY) few bright spots in the skits. The topics you presented such as race, sexuality, mental handicap...those are definitely things that can be made humorous as part of a comedy act, but the point is that they weren't. With comedy infused, the subject manner was appropriate. But since there was no humor, it just came off as dry and unfunny. And if the number of audience members that night is any indication of the normal size crowds that Comic Energy draws...well then frankly I wouldn't call your 10 years much of a success.

Walter Threadgill

Posted 2009-11-26 04:24:04

True, we had some misses (as well as some HITS) that night, but that's par for the course in this line of work. But to be fair here, 'The Funeral' (written by Pat Reber) was originally cast with a WHITE actor playing the role I played that night. The 'Timpsons' (written by James Daly); was about a kinky couple who looked PAST race, Dwarfism, sexual orientation,(or anything else for that matter) to find "The Lovin". Hell, we should ALL be as open-minded as the Timpsons. CE isn't a bunch of knuckle-dragging bigots; and I resent and reject out of hand, any implication to that effect. The material we draft is written to get reaction and thus generate sales. We do not sift for social context, nor do we edit based on whom we may or may not offend. We are not running for office, we are comedians. Our business is making people laugh. And business is GOOD. Wanna know how good? Wanna know how we've lasted for 10 years? Check us out at comicenergy.com.

rosie

Posted 2009-11-24 23:11:57

crude , rude , racial , sex , stupid comments , ignorant humans , well that describes pretty much what we see on a daily basis . imperfections of a society which seems to get worse every ten years , so as i see it comic energy is right on target and up with the times . the most famous comics have given us crude, rude and racial remarks to a sold out crowd . we laugh because we get it , not because we agree with what we are seeing are hearing but because we all know someone who is just like that .

Tom Jackman

Posted 2009-11-24 10:33:22

Comic Energy shows have always been this way, that is why we enjoy their shows. They have guts and tell it like it is, they appeal to a blue collar audience the working man, get a life toots

Cidy

Posted 2009-11-24 10:48:53

This review makes me want to check Comic energy out.. the reporter make Comic energy sound too funny.. Lauren sounds like a bit of a prude.. maybe she needs to lighten up a bit!!

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