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S, .Friday
January 24, 1997
'Komedy'
attacks
with fun, laughs
By Christopher Tkaczyk
Daily Arts Writer
Sit back, make yourself comfortable
and think back to your high school
years. While a good, nostalgic number
of you may be sobbing right now, remi-
niscing about long-lost friends, the rest
should concentrate
on what actually p R
happened in the
classroom. And M
we're not talking
academics. u-CI
Remember
t
orl
iub it
Country star Nanci Griffith, with her evocative, distinct voice, will perform at Hill
Aufitorium tomorrow night at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival.
20th Annual IFolk
Fe e
entertaining your1
biology class with the cold, slimy
appendages of your dissected frog ... or
Mr. Graves, the senile algebra teacher
with the strange mirrors on his shoes?
Then, this weekend, the Comedy
Company brings an event which is
along the same lines of entertainment
the kind that we miss and have not
outgrown.
No, one doesn't have to be a sick
class clown to enjoy the newest install-
ment of the Comedy Company. When a
student company, which runs like a pro-
fessional one, presents its foray of light-
heartedness, many comedy lovers will
find themselves having a good time.
The Comedy Company of 1996-97 is
not to be compared with any perfor-
mances that have been presented in
years past. This year's team of writers
and excited new cast has been sculpted
by the hands of LSA senior Scott
Michael Fera, a Comedy Company vet-
eran.
Fera, acting as both director and
producer, and his cohorts have rede-
fined the entertaining group as a more
professional troupe. Comedy is pre-
sented on a much more serious level.
The Comedy Company no longer con-
fines its audience to the student com-
munity by simply
E V i E W poking political
puns at the ever-
tal Komedy unpopular prac-
Tomorrow night at 8 tcs o h
n the Michigan Union University. With its
Admission: $5 new approach to
humor, the
Comedy Company aims for a wider
range of audiences.
In an interview with The Michigan
Daily this past week, Fera said that "the
interests of the audience are the main
thing that we have been working on,
and we hope to achieve a greater suc-
cess by opening up new avenues of
comedy, instead of relying on
University pot-shots."
The Comedy Company's new slogan
is "to be seriously funny." With changes
in the preparation and execution of their
shows, Fera has successfully re-estab-
lished the Comedy Company as an
amateur company operating profession-
ally.
This new night of comedy, titled
"Mortal Komedy," is scheduled to
begin with a series of sketches, written
and performed by the company's cast
and team of writers.
While following the patterns estab-
lished by "Second City" and "Saturday
Comedy Company will perform "Mortal Komedy" this Saturday.
Night Live," the Comedy Company will
present sketches that make humorous
situations out of everyday events. These
are events to which anyone can relate
and look at in a new, more humorous
light. The new slogan of the Comedy
Company will definitely be reflected in
this entertaining performance.
Also scheduled to entertain the
laugh-hungry audience will be a stand-
up comedian, LSA senior Mark
Rukman.
The evening will conclude with a
session of improvisation, mainly led by
suggestions from audience members.
Improvisation relies not only on the
comedian, but more important, on the
relationship between the comedian and
the audience. Knowing this, the compa-
ny's cast and writers have worked audi-
ence participation into the performance.
The Comedy Company encourages
highly voiced audiences, as well as
direct interaction with the nine-member
cast. At this point in the performance,
retired high school class clowns are
enthusiastically invited into the spot-
light.
This show has been advertised as "a
cheap date." The lucky first 75 pe6 e
arriving at the door are invited to -
take in a free buffet, courtesy of the
Comedy Company.
The buffet will be served befogg the
8 p.m. opening, so hungry comedy
lovers should plan ahead and afrive
early.
In addition to this performance, 'on
Feb. 15, the Comedy Company intends
to plan another night that compares
closely to the structure of "Mortal
Komedy."
The new changes in the structure of
the Comedy Company include Impzov
shows twice every month, as well as the
big annual end-of-the-year perfor-
mance, which is scheduled for March
13, 14 and 15.
Whether looking for some lau hs,
free food or Mr. Graves' mirrors, the
audience is bound to find a good fime
during the Comedy Company's one-
night-only engagement at the
Club.
By Anders SmithUindall
Daily Arts Writer
One of the year's biggest and best
area music events is taking place right
here on campus tomorrow, when a stel-
lar roster of folk artists converges on
Hill Auditorium
for the 20th Annual
Ann Arbor Folk PR
Festival. Featuring
Nanci Griffith and
Leon Redbone, the
Festival is a fund-
raiser benefit for Michigan Union
R
F
Tic
the Ark.
The evening of music will show-
case a number of well-known artists
and their diverse talents.The headlin-
ers are both esteemed veteran singer-
songwriters; Redbone will deliver
folksy blues with a delightfully cock-
eyed sense of
humor and hisp
trademark bari-
tone, while;
Griffith's evoca-
tive voice will
soar over her
band's country-
tinged sound. 4
Other acts
inlude David
Bromberg with
Jay Ungar and
Molly Mason
(practitioners of
traditional music
of 19th-century
America best Leon Redbone and h
known for their
contributions to
the soundtrack of Ken Burns' PBS
documentary on the Civil War), the
Drop Caps with Mike Gordon of
Phish, Dan Bern, Patty Griffin,
Martin Sexton, Susan Werner and Les
Barker.
Not only is this an excellent oppor-
tunity to see and hear a wide range of
talents from with-
in the folk genre,
E VIEW but the proceeds
go to support a
olk Festival more-than-worthy
Tomorrow night at 6 cause - the Ark,
Hill Auditorium the venerable
ket office. 763-TKTS local venue that
consistentlyedraws
top-notch performers, while nurtur-
ing local talent as well.
Without the Ark, many fine folk,
country and blues shows would skip
Ann Arbor altogether, and the local
scene would not be the same.
It is important
that we recog-
nize the valuable
community
resource we
have in the Ark,
and there could-
n't be an easier
Brooks''Mote' does not know best
- and more
entertaining -
way to show our
support and
than by attend-
ing this show.
Great music.
C o n v c n i e n t
location. Tons of
fun. One low
price, and all for
a good cause.
What could be a better
By Neal C. Carruth
For the Daily
Albert Brooks' new film, "Mother"
is an entertaining but ultimately disap-
pointing work that marks his first direc-
torial effort since "Defending Your
Life" (1991). Brooks stars with Debbie
Reynolds in this
examination of
the complex R E
dynamics that G
underlie familial 9
connections.
J o h n
Henderson
(Brooks) is a
comfortable, but little-known science-
fiction writer who, at the beginning of
the film, undergoes his second divorce.
During a probing conversation with a
buddy, he realizes that none of his
romantic partners have had any faith in
him.
He traces this problem to his awk-
ward and unsupportive relationship
with his mother,
Beatrice, played
by Reynolds.
Henderson
decides that the
U
his guitar.
Ask yourself:
deal?
ing it with Hendrix posters, a lava lamp
and other assorted possessions of his
youth.
As actors, Brooks and Reynolds
develop a comfortable and easy chem-
istry. Brooks' sarcasm and impotent
rage are the perfect foils to Reynolds'
gently chiding
nature. Both are a
V I E W true delight to watch.
U n fort un at e l y,
Mother Brooks' script is
*** rather weak and
undisciplined in
At Showcase terms of structure,
and he allows the
crucial scenes between Henderson and
Beatrice to meander. Also, his resolu-
tion of the tension between the two
characters strikes one as superficial.
And the film's overarching message
that mothers are people with real con-
cerns, ambitions and desires comes off
as nothing less than trite.
As indicated above, the acting saves
the picture some-
what. Reynolds is
a particular stand-
out, returning to
film after a 27-
year absence. She
endows Beatrice
Henderson with a
combination of
warmth and
shrewdness, both
maintained
beneath a placid,
congenial facade.
The screen posi-
tively lights up
with her pres-
ence.
Brooks, on the
other hand, has
always been a lit-
tle too subtle as
to be alive, an actor to grab
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solution to his
romantic woes
hinges on improv-
ing relations with
his mother.
Determined to
"recapture a feel-
ing" and figure
out where their
association went
awry, Henderson
moves back in
with his mother.
In carrying out
his "experiment,"
Henderson even
appropriates his
old room, decorat-
Albert Brooks and Debbie Reynolds try toi
one's attention. While his fans find
humor in his every utterance, those who
are unacquainted with his work are
often left wondering whether what just
happened was supposed to be funny. He
is so low-key that he virtually disap-
pears.
As a comic writer, Brooks' strength
has always been cracking life's most
banal and inane moments wide open.
He specializes in performing a reductio
ad absurdum on habitual, mindless
behavior and reactions. "Mother" does
contain some classic scenes of this sort.
There is an extended scene in which
Beatrice offers Henderson food that has
resided in her freezer for years. She
pulls forth a giant hunk of frozen
cheese and offers Henderson orange
sherbert covered with a layer of "pro-
tective ice." Brooks' fans will relish this
kind of closely-observed humor, but it's
not for everybody.
Rob Morrow, of "Quiz Show" and
"Northern Exposure," is excellent in a
discover Victoria's Secret.
supporting role as Henderson's brother,
Jeff. The estranged character of the
relationship between the two broti
also becomes a subject of the fi,
though it is not very believable or well
handled by Brooks, the director/screen-
writer.
Though Morrow superbly plays up
his character as a whiny mama's boy, it's
difficult to buy into Brooks and
Morrow as brothers. And Brooks' fail-
ure to resolve the rift between the two
characters seems like more of an over-
"sight than an attempt to sustain dram.
ic tension.
There is little reason to attend to
"Mother.' It's probable that even if you
liked such Brooks classics as "Real
Life,'"Modern Romance" and "Lost in
America," you will be disappointed by
"Mother." In his previous work, Brooks
maintained an appropriate satirical dis
tance from his subject. In "Mother," one
detects a creeping sentimentality that
undermines Brooks' comic intentiond
Rob Morrow Is happy
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