the rick younger show
written by Matthew Love
(Nov/Dec 07)
The Rick Younger Show seems to be rooted in another time. The show’s focus remains anachronistically warm and generous. Younger and his invited performers sidestep novelty and shock in favor of intelligent stand-up, impressions, and goofy sketches with underlying social satire. Ultimately, it’s a pluralistic engagement: something to which you’ll happily bring your mom, yet something that won’t put you to sleep.
Actively modeled after old-school variety shows like Flip Wilson, this monthly showcase slides between music and comedy while keeping the talented Younger on the radar at all times. I caught a recent performance at Mo Pitkin’s. He plays the convivial host, tells jokes, and sings most of the songs with a six-piece band behind him. The entire affair is casual while still emphasizing showmanship and spectacle.
Younger had been waiting for a chance to marry his two disciplines – comedy and music – and this is exactly the sort of show he has imagined for a long time. “There was no use waiting around for somebody to ask me, ‘If you could have a TV show, what would it be like?’ This is that show,” says Younger.
It also provides the show’s supporting players with an unusual challenge. Rather than simply curate a cabaret and give his performers stage time, Younger generates ideas for the routines himself. He feeds his concepts to collaborator Katie Northlich, a monologist and performer herself, who imagines how they might be executed and who’d be the best for them. They then present their concepts to their regular stable of performers and ask them to prepare. The night of the show, Younger introduces the players alongside their premises and readies himself to play.
While this may be a recipe for disaster in any number of circumstances, the cast here utilizes this improvisational energy to propel their performances. The outlook and genuine rapport Younger shares with his guests individually help the audience relax and makes it clear that these people are his friends off-stage.
Character comic Marc Theobald portrays the silver-faced Statue Man with great timing and nuance. The Statue Man act is a look into the daily troubles of the ubiquitous Times Square ‘entertainer,’ who (after all) is just trying to make a living like everyone else. Theobald’s character makes a plea for equal rights and assures the audience he’s a consummate performer by recounting a time he resisted arguing with his woman, who had confronted him during his act about their troubles at home.
The lanky SNL alum Dean Edwards delivers a nicely exaggerated impression of Denzel Washington: the Denzel in interview mode, who can’t stop talking about the ‘craft’ between his barking laugh and serious, actorly gaze over his slightly sunken cheeks.
As a host, the affable, baby-faced Younger gives off an infectious enthusiasm that makes the proceedings easy to engage. (After engaging his falsetto during the Hall and Oates staple, “One on One,” he addresses the crowd: “Y’all feel sexy after that? I feel sexy.”) Younger also does some of his own stand-up. As it’s new, observational stuff yet to be sharpened into a potent form, he relies on his evident, charming personality to save him from serious scrapes. Thankfully, it works.
Slightly less successful is a musical satire on rich, white deb-type girls getting busted delivered by Carolyn Castiglia aka Miss CKC to the tune of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love.” Though she has no lack of energy or smarts (“The shit is real… with a P H,” she says in her best, bloated hip-hop stance), she’s unfortunately swallowed by the band not two feet behind her. It doesn’t make it easier that she’s reading the large number of lyrics involved from a computer print-out. Though it loses its bite in incomprehensibility, the energy still rolls from the stage and makes it still enjoyable in its own right.
The rest of the songs that bookend each act are sung by Younger himself. The backing band, named after their tip jar (‘Love Bucket’), has three horns, a bass, a drum kit and a keyboard; they show their capabilities for a big sound on rockets like the aforementioned Beyonce hit. The show even has back-up dancers, the Rickettes, who shimmy hard through the audience in a flagrant attempt to provoke disobedience of the city’s cabaret laws. As for Younger, he sweats and shuffles through Pop/R&B standards like “Try a Little Tenderness” and “Rock with You.” As the show progresses, he gets comfortable, his voice opens up and by the time he’s powering through the punctuating squawks and shouts in Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” the room is swaying with each note. As Younger notes, “I watch the waitresses. They see shows here all the time. If they’re dancing, that tells you something.”
Ultimately, what’s on display in the Rick Younger Show is the strength of its performers and their personalities. It is an entertainment in its purest form: energetic, diverting, and sweet. It may not change your life, but it will definitely put your evening on the right track.
“I don’t have to go out every night anymore,” says Younger. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years. Some people get up on stage, do a bit and wonder why it doesn’t work. Being around comedians all the time can give you this warped, comedian sense of humor. I’ve got to live a real life; that’s where the comedy comes from.”
The Rick Younger Show has recently moved to COMIX.
For more information, visit RickYounger.com.