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Are politicians funny?
"This Is The Week That Is' by 1812 Productions (1st review)
Dan Rottenberg
I stopped attending This Is the Week That Is three years ago because I couldn't bear to watch a sophisticated comedy troupe like 1812 Productions stooping to sophomoric political satire. I returned to the show's seventh annual edition this week in the hopes that maybe things had charged. They hadn't.
Pretty much everything I wrote in 2009 (click here) about This Is the Week still applies. The 1812 troupe is trying to replicate the sort of satire that Letterman, Leno, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert deliver so much better every night on TV.
Its best ideas— Jennifer Childs as an overstuffed Governor Chris Christie, Dave Jadico playing Mitt Romney as a wind-up doll, a skit imagining Voter ID at America's first presidential election (George Washington gets hassled, but George III sails through)— work better on paper than on stage.
Much the same goes for many of the show's jokes ("My 401(k) is so bad, it's a 401(f)") and the clunky song lyrics, many of which were difficult to hear, partly because they didn't roll off the tongue easily. (The closing number was something along the lines of, "What's so funny about peace and understanding?")
The six high-spirited cast members spend two hours performing some two dozen variations on a single theme: "Let's laugh at politicians." Unfortunately, most of our current politicians— Obama, Romney, Mayor Michael Nutter— aren't especially lampoonable.
In perhaps the evening's wisest decision, the 1812 folks declined to ridicule Tom Corbett, presumably because no one in Pennsylvania knows or cares what the governor looks or sounds like.
On the other hand, This Is the Week omitted Jennifer Childs's timely, acerbic and wickedly funny spoof of Todd Akin, the Missouri U.S. Senate candidate who recently contended that victims of "legitimate" rape can't get pregnant if they don't want to. (Childs portrays the receptionist at the Todd Akin Medical Center, advising callers whether their cancer is or isn't legitimate.) That you can enjoy by clicking here.♦
To read another review by Steve Cohen, click here.
Pretty much everything I wrote in 2009 (click here) about This Is the Week still applies. The 1812 troupe is trying to replicate the sort of satire that Letterman, Leno, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert deliver so much better every night on TV.
Its best ideas— Jennifer Childs as an overstuffed Governor Chris Christie, Dave Jadico playing Mitt Romney as a wind-up doll, a skit imagining Voter ID at America's first presidential election (George Washington gets hassled, but George III sails through)— work better on paper than on stage.
Much the same goes for many of the show's jokes ("My 401(k) is so bad, it's a 401(f)") and the clunky song lyrics, many of which were difficult to hear, partly because they didn't roll off the tongue easily. (The closing number was something along the lines of, "What's so funny about peace and understanding?")
The six high-spirited cast members spend two hours performing some two dozen variations on a single theme: "Let's laugh at politicians." Unfortunately, most of our current politicians— Obama, Romney, Mayor Michael Nutter— aren't especially lampoonable.
In perhaps the evening's wisest decision, the 1812 folks declined to ridicule Tom Corbett, presumably because no one in Pennsylvania knows or cares what the governor looks or sounds like.
On the other hand, This Is the Week omitted Jennifer Childs's timely, acerbic and wickedly funny spoof of Todd Akin, the Missouri U.S. Senate candidate who recently contended that victims of "legitimate" rape can't get pregnant if they don't want to. (Childs portrays the receptionist at the Todd Akin Medical Center, advising callers whether their cancer is or isn't legitimate.) That you can enjoy by clicking here.♦
To read another review by Steve Cohen, click here.
What, When, Where
This Is The Week That Is. Written and directed by Jennifer Childs, Don Montrey and 1812 Productions troupe. Through November 4, 2012 at Plays and Players Theatre, 1724 Delancey Pl. (215) 592-9560 or www.1812productions.org.
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