Pleaseeasaur :: Recap: Neil Hamburger and Pleaseeasaur @ Pianos NYC
2005-05-17
THE APIARY (NEW YORK. NY)
May 17, 2005
Recap: Neil Hamburger and Pleaseeasaur @ Pianos 5/13/05 - 2nd Show
Stand up shows tend to be a lot like rock shows. They're notorious for never starting on time. Pianos had two Neil Hamburger sets in one night. The first (packed like tinned tuna), to start at 8, went on at 9. The second (with elbow room to spare) to go at 10:00PM, didn’t get moving until 11:30. For all intents and purposes though, Neil Hamburger is a rock star. He could have come out at 1AM, pooped on stage, and gone home. Fans would’ve still gone bananas.
Two white screens flanked the whole of the small stage. In the center was a glitzy silver curtain. The house lights dimmed down and a smoke machine began sputtering.
A dude comes out dressed in a mercury colored Martian space suit and WWE championship belt and begins singing a wacky, high energy, early Genesis-like prog-rock number about calling 1-800 NO PROB-LIMO if you ever need a limousine. WTF?
Imagine Weird Al, Atom and His Package, and a prelapsarian Carrot Top getting cooked together in a roadside meth lab. This is Pleaseeasaur.
The guy changes into increasingly hilarious costumes and belts out tunes ranging on such topics as white cargo vans, deadly cobras with sunglasses, working out all the time, and an island made of Beef. Beef had two songs about it, actually. While he performs, interacting images are projected on the screen behind him.
FYI: here were Pleaseeasaur’s 8 costume changes: Spacesuit > Bald Eagle tanktop and lycra pants > Mountain Yeti > a colonial Judge > Mullethead > Pizza Brothers > a baby on an old lady’s back > Glam Rocker.
It was all extraordinarily bizarre, unexpected, and very funny. Prop comedy at it's best. That sounds bad, doesn't it?
(intermission)
Neil Hamburger takes the stage. Look at this guy. Good grief. He is wearing a tuxedo and oversized eyeglasses. His hair is sopping wet and fashioned into a remarkable combover. He lamely clutches a glass of water and starts the show by couging into the microphone--exaggerated, gross, & phlegmy.
What do you call a senior citizen who can't refrain from showing her genitalia in public?
--Madonna
What's the difference between Courtney Love and the American Flag?
--It'd be wrong to urinate on the American Flag.
What's sticky and salty and splattered all over the coffin of Ronald Wilson Reagan?
--The tears of a nation.
Why did God send Terri Schiavo to hell?
--For committing the sin of sloth.
It's not so much the jokes that make Neil so good. It's in the delivery and his commitment to his character. The schtick is that he's a miserable hack comedian with cancer.
The crowd was eating out of his hand. Neil connected with the audience in a way that was both brilliant and electric. Never once did it feel like he was going through the motions or that we were just another stop on the tour. He absolutely killed.
