#the funniest shit is just a bunch of characters walking off something wild that just happened

[grayintogreen]

I really have to say that in the wake of the quip post going around and me rewatching LOST, there is really nothing funnier than a scene that isn’t supposed to be funny, isn’t even set up to be funny, but through the absolute absurdity of the situation is hilarious. To wit, there is humor in playing an absurd scene completely straight without trying to draw attention to how absurd it is.

To use LOST as an example, there’s a scene where two characters meet on an abandoned ship in the jungle (which is funny on its own) that goes like this:

In one corner we have John Locke, currently playing with a knife while the guy he manipulated into coming into the jungle with him on a convoluted quest to get HIM to kill their mutual abuser because he couldn’t do it himself is banging on the door to the brig because Locke is allergic to explaining things as all the island mystics tend to be.

In the other corner, entering the scene, we have Danielle Rousseau, local island crazy lady that everyone has accepted as just a staple of the experience and is deemed an Ally despite the fact that she doesn’t join their group, lives on her own, and has death traps strewn throughout the jungle that are just commonly referenced as a thing that happens.

The two of them regard each other. “Rousseau.” “Locke.”

(And now it’s already funny to the Philosophy Major crowd but wait there’s more.)

Rousseau looks at the door where there’s still shouting and banging. Locke doesn’t explain anything. “What brings you to the ship?”

(Keep in mind that Rousseau is the one who showed the survivors the ship and makes frequent trips to it. LOCKE is the one acting weird. Locke has decided that the only way to make this situation Not Awkward is to just roll with it. He is legitimately Bavarian Fire Drilling his way out of what would CONCERN MOST PEOPLE.)

But here’s where it gets funny.

“I’m here for the dynamite.”

Okay. So you have one person who has locked someone in the brig for some reason and another person who is known to be EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS to the health and safety of others because of her death traps going “I need dynamite” and none of this sounds like sane reasonable behavior and the punchline is just both of them staring at each other and NOT QUESTIONING ANY OF IT. Rousseau walks out with a box of dynamite, Locke continues to wait for a murder to occur.

THAT is funny. That is humor that requires insight into the characters, the situation, and how none of the steps taken are the steps you’d expect. Humor doesn’t have to rely on zingers and meme worthy lines- it requires you to be able to take a completely absurd situation and play it absolutely straight. No irony poisoning and SEE WE KNOW THIS IS STUPID will ever compare to watching two characters just completely refuse to react to something weird or even treat it as anything other than normal behavior.

[elm-tree]

BE MORE CHILL OFF-BROADWAY: THOUGHTS

So I got to see Be More Chill at the Perishing Square Signature Center last night, and it was absolutely incredible! I just wanted to rant about some of my favorite parts. Spoilers ahead!!

Okay so at Jeremy’s laptop had a “Black Suits” sticker on it and I actually laughed out loud when I saw it. I thought it was a cool little inside joke for Joe Iconis and Will Roland

Will Roland pouring lotion into his hand after “waitin’ for my porno to loud” freaking KILLED ME. 

The costumes were all so bright and colorful and it made all the characters stand out.

Brooke pretty much had a can of La Croix in her hand the entire show and it was hysterical. 

Gerard Canonico has such amazing stage presence. When he was onstage, it was HIS SHOW. 

Rich was also wearing a Deadpool belt which I loved. 

I’m pretty sure they actually redesigned all the costumes and din’t reuse anything from the Two River Theatre production, which I found super cool. 

When Michael entered for his lil reggae section at the beginning, the audience went wild and it was jut really cool. 

Michael’s sweatshirt has a bunch of patches on it, and one of them was a gay pride flag. 

Will Roland can play vulnerable and soft very well. I got to see him in Dear Evan Hansen and the entire time I kept thinking “this guy just walked right out of Be More Chill”. I was super happy he was a part of this. His Jeremy was very relatable and awkward, I loved it.

Christine doing the choreography from A Chorus Line and then getting lifted up before signing up for the play was hysterical. 

STEPHANIE HSU IS SUCH AN INCREDIBLE ACTRESS. 

Okay so “I Love Play Rehearsal” is a really great song, but I always find myself needing to be in a specific mood to listen to it. BUT SEEING STEPHANIE DO IT LIVE WAS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. The energy she emits is something special. 

Jake was smooth as FUCK and I loved him. He gave off a total fuck-boy vibe cause of his costume, but he was so damn like-able. 

Also Jake dabbed at some point during the first rehearsal scene and it was FANTASTIC. 

The choreography during the Squip Song was super cool. There was a lot of tutting. 

Rich is just such a great character. The Squip Song was incredible, and they added in a new rap-ish section at the end which totally worked for the character. 

Basically Rich was just an uncontrollable ball of fire. 

Two Player Game was so cute and I just love George and Will so much. 

They had fake video game footage playing during Two Player Game, and one of the zombies in the game dabbed. 

The Michael/Mr. Heere relationship is so great. Michael was really trying to help Mr. Heere out whenever Jeremy was shit-talking him. 

The Payless Shoestore guy was absolutely hysterical holy crap.  

So Jason Tam’s SQUIP was very different from Eric William Morris’s SQUIP. His SQUIP was a lot less harsh and very *ahem* chill. He was almost nurturing, which only made his eventual turn to evil even more stark and bone chilling.  

Stephanie Hsu was dressed as an old lady on a motor scooter during Be More Chill Part 2 and it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.

Upgrade is just a super fun song and once again the flashy costumes and the awesome choreography just left a huge smile on my face. 

OKAY I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE NEW ACT ONE FINALE “LOSER GEEK WHATEVER”. It basically expanded on the end of “Upgrade” and fleshed out Jeremy’s thought process in ignoring Michael a lot more. I loved it, and it reminded me a little bit of Defying Gravity. 

Will Roland has such a gorgeous voice.

Okay unrelated annecdote: I saw Joe Iconis in the bathroom at intermission and it was so awkward I couldn’t stop laughing (i didn’t say anything to him cause I ran into him before the show, and also it was the bathroom which is always super awkward)

HALLOWEEN WAS JUST SUCH A WONDERFUL JOYOUS EXPLOSION OF COLOR

Jenna Roland was dressed as a clown (like a full body suit that covered her face) and it was so freaking funny. 

Do You Wanna Hang was just super funny. Also Rich climbing up the window chasing Jeremy was hysterical. 

Okay so the whole “Creeps” shirt thing turned out to be the shirt Michael wore during Michael In The Bathroom (”I’m a creeper in the bathroom...”)

When Jeremy turned on Michael and called him a loser, I got chills. Jeremy’s character arc is a little Evan Hansen-ish, but with a completely different tone and sense of humor. 

Will Roland has incredible comic timing. 

Michael In The Bathroom...HOLY CRAP. I’ve listening to a bunch of different versions, I’ve seen videos of George performing it, but nothing compares to see him do it live. I started crying. And the applause at the end of the song was colossal. 

The scene between Jeremy and Christine at the party where Jeremy asks her out was just so cute. You’re so mad at Jeremy for abandoning Michael, but then you start to see the old Jeremy peeking through and you have a little sympathy.

*weird robot noises*

GERARD ASKING EVERYBODY FOR MOUNTAIN DEW RED WAS WONDERFUL. 

Okay so there was actually a scene where Rich talked to his SQUIP and he didn’t want to help his SQUIP take over the school. Then he decides to set the fire. It was actually really dark. I liked it a lot. 

Tiffany Mann as Jenna Roland was so incredible. 

When Brooke came on for The Smartphone Hour, she had a banana shoved in her mouth and was just sucking on it. Later she just threw it off the stage, and it was hysterical. 

At the end of the Smartphone Hour, all the guys in the cast came out in drag and I couldn’t stop laughing. 

The applause at the end of The Smartphone Hour was so insane holy crap. 

The Pants Song made me cry tbh. The Michael/Mr. Heere bond is so great.  

They took out the line where Michael tells Mr. Heere he needs to go buy a pair of pants, which I think makes Mr. Heere having pants on at the end have more of an impact.

Michael’s awkward reaction to Jeremy’s dad asking “do you love [Jeremy]?” was GOLDEN. 

The Pitiful Children was actually switched with The Pants Song. The new lyrics worked really well. It made Jeremy deciding to help the SQUIP more believable.

The Play was just so fun to watch.

I really enjoyed the fact that Christine knew what a SQUIP was. 

THE AUDIENCE WENT CRAZY DURING “MICHAEL MAKES AN ENTRANCE”. George just kinda reggae danced onto the stage I loved it. 

BISEXUAL RICH. 

Rich was also kinda hitting on Michael (who awkwardly played it off) but it was super cute. 

The cluster of popular kids in the second verse of “Voices In My Head” just made me cry idk why. 

Jenna, Chloe, and Brooke have really good, really subtle character development. 

Michael and Christine did a little hip bump thing and it was so cute. 

Everyone was just kinda friends at the end and I was legit crying. 

At the end, Jeremy was onstage with Michael,  Christine, and his dad. They left his one by one until he was alone. He took a deep breath and the lights went out. I thought that was a great ending for Jeremy’s character arc. 

THE CAST KINDA HAD A STRAIGHT UP DANCE PARTY AT THE END IT WAS SO AWESOME. 

SEE THE SHOW IF YOU CAN GET TICKETS???