CAVEAT: Mike Fotis (one of the writer/performers) is a founding member of the Rockstar Storytellers, and we have worked on a handful of spoken-word events through the years.
SHOW TITLE: Spooky Town
PRODUCER: Ferrari McSpeedy
HAILING FROM: Minnesota
SHOW DESCRIPTION: Four adults return to the orphanage that scarred them for a chance at 1 million dollars. Little do they know, the money will be splattered in their blood!!!!!!!!!!
BLOOD: 4/5 (Buh, seriously?)
AGES: 13+
PRE-CRINGE PROFILE: “Spooky Town is our first attempt at Horror, which breaks down into beats that are very similar to comedy.”
I’m not sure I’m convinced by that line from their Pre-Cringe Profile. I mean, I agree with the underlying point and it is therefore correct because I always am, but I’m not sure that this was all that structurally or tonally or rhythmically different from a typical Ferrari McSpeedy show. (Which is not at all a bad thing, because a typical Ferrari McSpeedy show is a thing of wonder.)
In my review for The Murderer did it! I wrote “…this isn’t just a mystery with some fine clowning slathered across the top.” That’s kind of exactly what this show is. It’s certainly the most punchline-dense of the comedies in the Festival this year — at times it feels almost like a snappy stand-up routine, scarcely willing to let ten seconds float past without another laugh. The other two parodies (I’m including The Harty Boys here) are more farcical, relying on wild and serpentine plot twists — this feels more like sketch comedy: the narrative’s really just there to hang jokes on, and the show lives or dies on the strength of its individual one-liners and sight gags.
The reason that all of this is okay is the fact that the jokes work. This show features some very fine comics, doing the very thing that they do best: zany, stream-of-consciousness nonsense. If that’s what you’re looking for (and why wouldn’t you be?), this is the place to find it.
Questions? Comments? Enraged invective? Check out my answers to occasionally asked questions in Notes on Notes, or the contact info linked from that page!
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