THE NERD SHOW AT UP COMEDY CLUB

The Nerd Show. It isn’t the most attractive title yet it definitely attracted a house full of eager audience members and patrons. Host Pete Holmes delivered a night that resonated with the fellow geeks in the audience as he set the stage for Brian Posehn, Brent Weinbach, and Mike Lawrence. The humor delivered by comedians was smart and witty as their jokes revolved around Y2K, sexual tension in society and unscripted crowd interactions.

Dan Telfer, The Onion writer and my past instructor at The Second City, brought his unique style of nerd to the stage as laughs rained when he explained how Raccoons are mutating and making possums their slaves.

Comedian Hari Kondabolu quickly attacked suburban America as he shared his observations on how status is show by the number of kids you carry. “Want to be more popular on your walk around the block, have another kid” he clarified.

The audience of this show was selective on handing out their giggles yet when they chose to let go, the UP Comedy Club echoed with laughs.

SCOTT ADSIT & KEVIN DORFF AT IO THEATRE

iO Theatre (formerly Improv Olympic) was the final stage of the night as Scott Adsit (30 Rock) and Kevin Dorff (Adult Swim’s Delocated) brought unique comedy to the Just For Laughs festival. No script. No plan. No rehearsal. This was improvisation at its best.

These gentlemen made a full one hour show off the audience suggestion “plutonium” and it was off the wall funny. Adsit and Dorff had a melodic dance to their show that took the audience inside five or six different scenes.

The twists of the scenes came from the pros. From a concerned parent (Adsit) addressing his sons high school gym teacher (Dorff) of sexting, an aggressive tennis battle provided the appropriate resolution which brought tears of happiness to the audiences eyes. Even the ladies from NPR sitting next to me were crying with laughter.

The single camera set up on 30 Rock had an underlying tone to the show as both gentlemen moved with a stage presence that resembled action seen on the TV show. Both comedians took moments to absorb what the other player said then replied in a calm, direct and usually humorous fashion. They controlled the pace of the show as they played with faster or slower rhythm of the scenes.
It was a great night of diversified comedy at the TBS Just For Laughs festival as we are stoked to see even more unique acts throughout the week!