By Danielle Levsky
SOLANA BEACH, California — “Tuesday Night Comics” advertises itself as “the funniest night of comedy in San Diego” and though initially promising in its lineup, the evening fell short and inconsistent in meeting this claim.
Hosted by by comedian and performer Mark Christopher Lawrence (“CHUCK,” “Kirby Buckets,” 2021 Emmy award nominee, San Diego Critic’s Circle Outstanding Actor Of The Year), Lawrence invited comedians, a musician, and a ventriloquist to join him on North Coast Repertory Theatre’s stage. As the masked audience entered the theatre, bluegrass singer/songwriter Ron Steven Houston created an immediately buzzing ambiance as the crowd found their seats. Lawrence introduced Houston as a longtime friend, and Houston’s final song, “Old St. Peter,” took the audience on a journey of one man’s experience with addiction and his complicated relationship with religion, all set to a catchy hook.
Lawrence started to work the crowd immediately, able to find humor in the smallest details. One patron introduced themselves as an 18-year-old comedian; Lawrence immediately responded “I’ve got underwear older than you,” sending the audience into uproarious laughter.
Yet what started out promising quickly shifted with Lawrence’s introduction of the opening comedic act, telling the audience that the comedienne is “easy on the eyes,” as if the audience was not there to laugh, or to be entertained, but to ogle her. Though comments at a woman’s body’s expense is nothing new in the comedy world, it continues to create an immediately challenging environment for any woman performer, and any woman in the room; they are expected to swallow any uneasiness and force a smile.
Jessica Rosas’ entry onto the stage starts with a few snappy jokes, and the ones that land, she promptly and effectively tells the audience “thank you.” This happens a few times throughout the set, and she gets responsive laughter. Her humor is often self-deprecating and delivered in a flat tone, which, when attributed to intense or shocking descriptions in her jokes, the contrast lands well. Half way through her set, the audience has been taken in a number of different directions, with one-liners that get slightly built upon, and then abandoned for a new direction. Sometimes it seemed that Rosas did not stay in one joke subject long enough for the audience to catch onto the story or the pun. Towards the end, in particular, she seemed to rush to the finish line, and that quickened time played into the quiet receipt of the jokes. Rosas holds a lot of potential for interesting comedic work, if she will let herself sit in the discomfort of an audience who is catching up with her.
The next act was a substitute for the scheduled featured act of the night; and much like a hungover substitute teacher in a K-12 school, Rocky Osbourne put the TV on and let the class settle into routine laughter. Metaphor aside, Osbourne started his set off by insulting and making light of his partner. (Or wife? Unclear as he opened with a joke about cheating on her). He continued to show much he dislikes women by insulting them at every turn; women who are not conventionally attractive, woman with learning disabilities (yep, the R word was used, like a standup routine from 2002). After he was done showcasing his discomfort with women’s existence, he performed a joke in which he compared not being able to perform a joke on stage during quarantine to an addict in withdrawal, then promptly made jokes about people based on their size, race, and sexuality. In between this barrage of old, tired, and uninteresting standup, he consistently reminded the audience how he was a last minute addition and was creating his act on the spot. Where some comedians and performers would find the magic of immediate and honest storytelling in their humor, Osbourne claimed that he, and I quote, “does not know what is considered offensive anymore”. If I wanted to read my racist uncle’s Facebook feed, I would have stayed home. And, given the vibrant comedy scene in Southern California, Osbourne must have been in quarantine longer than 2020 to have missed the conversations, discussions, and strides made in the comedy community about punching up rather than down — or maybe, he simply does not care. Ultimately, Osbourne used the shock factor to elicit uncomfortable and did-he-just-say-that laughter, rather than trying to investigate any topic or thought of value. For someone itching to come back on stage, it seems he did very little work to prepare anything of merit for the opportunity.
The final, headlining act was Kevin Johnson, a ventriliquist who travels the cruise and corporate event circuit widely and is most recognized for his appearance on “America’s Got Talent” and “The Late Show” with David Letterman. Johnson dazzled the audience with his three puppets, alternating between throwing his voice to the different characters, and having conversations with them and the audience directly. It was particularly impressive how he was able to alternate voices quickly and swiftly between multiple puppets at once, keeping track of their storylines and personas. There was even a moment during the evening where I forgot that his Grandfather puppet was being voiced by Johnson at all. In the moments that Johnson was without his puppets or props on stage, he seemed to rush through his jokes, not allowing the audience enough to listen, process, and intake. He doesn’t seem to trust that without puppets or props with him on stage, we are not going to like him; on the contrary, his immediate entry onto stage was warm and welcoming, an uplifting end to an uneven lineup.
Tuesday Night Comics returns for February 1, March 15, May 10, and June 28, 2022 at North Coast Repertory Theatre 987 Lomas Santa Fe Suite D Solana Beach, CA 92075. Tickets can be purchased at tickets.northcoastrep.org.
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Danielle Levsky (she/her) is an arts and culture writer, clown, producer, and educator based in San Diego whose work features people, ideas, and principles that highlight the experiences of diverse audiences.