Stepping into the Hollywood Theatre on Sandy Boulevard in Portland, Ore., I got an impression of the run-down nature that the city usually evokes in the minds of people not from there. Peeling paint and old carpet, high ceilings and the smell of popcorn drifting through the air — it was pure nostalgia. Here was show business, maybe from another time, but here it was. I must admit, the beer that I could take into the theater wasn’t too shabby, either.
The first show I caught was a movie by Matt Besser (of Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre fame) called “Freak Dance.” Making fun of the dance movie genre (I bet you couldn’t tell that from the title), the target audience of the movie seemed to be only the few select people that watch them on a regular basis. Of course, perhaps Besser thought his film’s comedic themes would be recognized by everybody. Maybe, but it seemed to just fall a little short. I wanted to like it. I wanted to believe that Besser could do everything well. I had seen some of his work before and I was impressed for the most part. But — I just couldn’t. The jokes didn’t pay off, and it seemed as though it was for an audience of only a select few. @@http://hollywoodtheatre.org/bridgetown-comedy-fest-presents-doug-bensons-movie-interruption/@@ @@http://www.ucbtheatre.com/@@
I asked Besser why he had come up with the idea for the film and he replied, “UCB got shut down because it didn’t have a second egress in the building. I didn’t even know what an egress was at the time, and we wrote that into the script around 2009.”
In “Freak Dance,” one of the comedic devices was the idea of the “second egress.” Clever.
“I have been freaking out the whole time. Here I am, volunteering for this show, and Matt Besser is in there talking about his movie,” said Raishawn Wickwyre, a festival volunteer. “I am such a UCB fan, it’s ridiculous.”
I stayed in my seat since I was there to see Doug Benson do his movie “Interruption: Con Air.” It was much like “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” but not as good. I don’t blame Benson; it’s the nature of the improv style that made it a little weaker. I mean, when is Nicky Cage not funny when he’s wearing a hairpiece in an action film? That’s right, never. The price tag seemed a little high, and that would be the theme running throughout the entire festival.
“Doug was pretty stoned,” said Cory Wheeler, one of the audience members of the Benson show. “I know of Doug Benson from his podcast, but yeah, he was pretty gone.”
Poppy Milliken, another audience member, chimed in, “I wish he had talked more.”
It did seem like he was tripping out during the action scenes, but he was also backed up by a few other comics and they seemed to kill it with impeccable timing. It was better with beer. Comedy usually is.
The next night, I visited the Bagdad Theater for “Come Laugh With Us.” It was really a mixed bag with horrible and stellar performances. But there was a tirade at a heckler by Brett Gelman that was so incendiary that it wasn’t funny at all. Honestly, I just felt a little uncomfortable and the crowd seemed to chuckle out of discomfort more than anything. Then there was a multimedia segment by Lance Bangs that seemed to put a lull in the show. There wasn’t all that much interesting about it. Bangs and Gelman would get into a faux argument about some of Gelman’s work that he wanted shown, but it just wasn’t funny. I’m not sure why they chose to use material that seemed like it hadn’t been tested (at least I hope so, otherwise it might be bad decision-making, and they’re too experienced to make such a rookie mistake). But, most of the other comics were true pros, and they brought the laughs home for everybody else. Overall a good show, and I don’t regret it in the least. @@http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1443368/@@ @@http://www.mcmenamins.com/219-bagdad-theater-pub-home@@
It was a good time, but perhaps a little bit of a wash as far as funny goes. A bit pricey, but I am talking from the standpoint of a poor college student, not an affluent city-dweller.