Pleaseeasaur :: Best Show EVER
2005-05-10
CREATIVE LOAFING (ATLANTA)
A1: Last Saturday night was conceptual comedy night at the Earl. America's Funnyman Neil Hamburger performed in Atlanta for the first time since 2003. In character (at least I hope it's a character), Hamburger is a depressed lounge comedian with a terrible combover (though not as bad as John Portman's) whose specialty is topical one-liners that aren't necessarily very topical, often aren't very funny, and often don't make very much sense. Some examples: "What was Elvis Presley's worst release? The ejaculate containing Lisa Marie." "Why did al-Qaeda burn thousands of copies of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon? Because it's a terrible album." "Why did Johnny Cochran eat at Outback four times during the last week of his life? To acclimate himself to the taste of food in hell."You get the picture. It's not that the jokes are brilliant, but the character is. The way he darts between weariness at how bad the show is going, uncomfortable small talk, and all-the-way anger (he threw two drinks on hecklers) is compelling theater. He is my favorite stand-up comedian.
Opening for Hamburger was Pleaseeasaur. I've been trying for two days now, but I cannot adequately describe Pleaseeasaur's show and do it any justice. Pleaseeasaur's frontman J.P. Hasson sings happy songs about how cool cobras are, the pizza business, and a two-part song about an island made of beef. The performance is accompanied by a visual show consisting of two overhead slide projectors that someone backstage places elementary school-style transparencies on in time with the lyrics. It was as if the disjointed thoughts of a 7-year-old boy were transcribed into a musical.
