Presented by ImprovBoston
40 Prospect St
Cambridge, MA
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BCAF FRI 6:30PM: Studio Theater feat. Nancy: Home is Where the Songs Is, Kennedy O’Reily and Matt Geiler
(Cambridge, MA) On Friday evening, I was treated to “Solo/Duo Musical Comedy” at ImprovBoston. It was 90 minutes of awkward and joyful laughter. Drink in hand, it’s one of the best ways to begin or end a night. This performance is one of many featured in the Boston Comedy Arts Festival going on now in Cambridge.
Matt Geiler opened the show with ImprovBoston accompanist and minor celebrity Mike D. on the piano. We were the recipients of a well executed liberal arts education in improv form as Geiler delivered musical improv brilliance that can only be described as genius. His coup de gras was a hip hop and classical mashup pitting Mozart in the mean streets of Compton. This man kept a firm control on the chaos in the audience and in his mind to give us an exceptional performance of professional potty-mouthed caliber.
Kennedy O’Reily followed Geiler. She was understandably wary as Geiler’s set was as different as different could be from hers. O’Reily gave us a more calm, less confrontational set of standup and original music. The stand up was typical comic fare but her penis joke and People of Walmart speckled music was delightfully, tastefully offensive.
The headliner and last act was the Mike Wolf half of comedy duo Nancy. (Our heartfelt condolences to Colin O’Brien. We hope Lassie helped you out of that well with minimal delays.) Wolf opened with a flat punk ode to beating the odds and learning to play guitar. It was great but you had to be there. Wolf’s stage persona is a grungy hipster less proficient in making music than he is in abusing his guitar to death one string at a time. Harmony and melody might come as epiphanies to him but his lyrics and delivery were on point. He was joined onstage by special guests, The Trumpet Boys.
The minty fresh comedic stylings of ImprovBoston are a great way to end a week of new student antics, political news straight from Lucifer’s flagrant butthole, and general September unease. This weekend is a special treat for the Cambridge area as Wednesday welcomed the Boston Comedy Arts Festival. If you enjoy standup, improv, sketch and everything in between, the Comedy Arts Festival will rock your world. A listing of shows past, present and future can be found here.
