STAGE REVIEW : A Wry Look at Male Foibles : Spoof at the American Renegade Theatre uses a series of occasionally hilarious sketches to put men in their place.
“DO NOT!!!†cautions the program cover, “Feed the man, tease the man, sexually an ger the man, block the man’s TV during game.â€
This late-night comedy hour, at American Renegade Theatre, promises to prove its title’s assertion that “Men Are Animals.â€
Sometimes it does. But usually it looks at men as untrained puppies, wondering what those papers are for. When it hits that target it ranges from amusing to very, very funny. That’s because the trio of funnymen (Tom Dugan, Bart Sumner, Steve Rayvler Greenberg) are amusing and often funnier than their material (mostly written by Sumner and Greenberg).
These guys think funny, a sometimes unappreciated requisite. They don’t depend on one-liners, although those are abundant. They establish characters early and get their yuks by putting those personalities in outrageous situations.
An example is their opening sketch, “Lone Wolves,†a shameless sendup of male bonding to the beat of drums in the wild, with their ritual reassertion (“Tell it to the wind! I’m a man !â€). Rotund, bumbling Sumner seems at a loss in the rite no matter how hard he tries, until his round face lights up in joy as he announces, “I felt something that time!â€
Some of the sketches are only smile-getters, in spite of their cleverness. “Bench of Dreams,†a spoof of “Field of Dreams,†finds Greenberg’s sports junkie insisting he won’t build a baseball field for a loser like Shoeless Joe Jackson; he’ll only do it for Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio.
A couple of other film takeoffs score points. “Giant Lost Baby†focuses on an agent seeking out a sensational new client, the Lost Legendary Baby Man of Brazil, in a temple in the deepest jungle. Two chapters of “Blond Warrior (I and II),†written by Nick Davis, springboard from super-male hero fantasy adventure films. Both toss darts at the genres they mock (Dugan is hilarious as a bone-waving martial arts master), but neither illuminate the evening’s title. Their effect, as with all the sketches, derives from the deadpan delivery of the ridiculous.
The funniest and wisest bits show men at their most vulnerable, as in a routine written by Dugan (a setup for a later payoff), in which Greenberg is waiting for a tall, attractive blind date who turns out to be a male cross-dresser (Dugan again top-notch as Rebecca--â€You can call me Beckyâ€). It’s all straight-faced, which is why it works, and it gets the biggest laughs of the evening. It blasts the macho image with wit and subtlety.
Musical director Noah Michael Levine does break up during the show, particularly during Sumner’s giddy, giggling TV reviews of the week’s “funniest†movies, such as “Silence of the Lambs†and “Regarding Henry.†We broke up, too.
Levine also spices the show with his Manhattan-flavored keyboard accompaniment to choruses of his original song, whose lyrics explain a good deal about how and why men are animals. These guys have a lot of fun even when they’re skirting the issue.
Where and When
Play: “Men Are Animalsâ€
Location: American Renegade Theatre, 11305 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood
Hours: 11 p.m. Saturdays, indefinitely
Price: $6.
Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Call: (818) 763-4430 or (818) 762-1136
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
