We Go Balls Deep With Victor Continental / Progressive Pick of the Day: "Sneak Peek Party" at Lawrence Public Library

As we've reported recently, there's a growing new comedy scene in Larryville (Dark Times with Jay Maus; Not So Late Show; joke night at Jackpot). But there's still only one reigning king, Victor Continental, who took his throne at a packed Liberty Hall last night for his 17th show and one of the best in years (we suspected the Brownback administration would spur a renewed sense of energy and outrage in the writers, and we were correct).

Here's our awards for the show:

Most inspired moment: A naked hand emerges from behind the Shitty Deal Puppet Theater stage. Why? Brownback cut the sock puppet budget.

Most sustained creative sketch: The Day After: The Musical. This spin on Larryville's legendary 1983 made-for-TV disaster epic allowed the gang to very effectively merge the local, the absurd, and their flair for songwriting. Best bits: Gorbachev's take on Run DMC's "It's Tricky" ("It's tricky to drop a bomb.") and the "Total Eclipse of the Heart" number ("Now I only glow in the dark."). Impressive work and nicely placed as the centerpiece of the show, just before intermission (although there was absolutely no way to top it).

Best hyper-local references: Buying "pagan dildoes" at the Village Witch; Doug Compton setting fire to a Boog Highberger float in the St. Patrick's Day parade.

Most joyous moment: Victor bringing his 3 favorite hairdressers from Static on-stage for a drunken, grinding dance party near the end of the show during the always excellent Product Placement sketches. Nice synthesis of the artistic community and the businesses that support it. Here they are, shaking their asses (click to enlarge):




















Biggest clunker: The bizarre Lava Lawyer sketch early in the evening (which resembled a rambling SNL time-filler: remember Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer? This was not as funny and should have been saved for the later, more drunken part of the night).

Obligatory but "too soon" joke: the death of Amy Winehouse.

Personal favorite line: "Fuck a bunch of Alvamar."

Observations:

Drunk people (and morons) simply cannot help repeating punch lines loudly amongst themselves. It was funnier two seconds ago...when the actors said it!

Despite Victor admonishing the audience not to be "buttplugs" and talk during the sketches, a guy in the top of the balcony was one of the biggest buttplugs in the history of Victor shows. How much booze (or bath salts) does it take to be that fucking disrespectful to people who have worked hard to entertain you? A lot, we suspect.

We'll leave you with this picture of a naked Mick Cottin, who had too much to drink at a Thursday afternoon Cottin's Farmer Market.





















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Make sure to stop by the Lawrence Public Library tonight at 7:00 for a public "sneak peek party" to show off the new design plans. There will be jazz and refreshments.

Our current favorite library-related activity is dropping off materials in the new solar-powered return box at Checker's:

"The audiovisual bin is heated in the winter and cooled in the summer so that more fragile materials are not damaged by temperature extremes in the return box. The heating and cooling systems are powered by solar energy."

Richard: "It's totally out of my way to return things there, but it makes me feel good about myself to make sure that my copy of Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf will not be damaged in the heatwave."

Please watch the bad-ass book trailer for The Last Werewolf here

Chip: "Books have trailers?"