Bobby Lee got his start in the merciless world of standup comedy, though you may know him from his tenure on MadTV from 2001 to 2009. His arrival on the network show was welcome and startling: Finally, a human of Asian descent on a sketch comedy show. He was responsible for characters such as Kim Jong-il (from fictional The Kim Jong-il Show), Connie Chung, and many others.
While he's great as an unhinged dipstick in sketch comedy, he also made a hilarious and compelling appearance on comedian Marc Maron's WTF podcast. His tale of bottoming out on drugs and crapping his pants on a film shoot will not soon leave you, and it will put your own misadventures on a more generous continuum. Now sober and perhaps more stable, Lee can be caught in the pithy henhouse of Chelsea Lately and in cinema gems such as stoner giggle-fest Pineapple Express. Tonight's standup comedy show is sure to bring out the best in this talented weirdo.
Adam Ray and Big Al Gonzales open, June 2-4 at the Punch Line.
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Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, 78 years old, still wants love. And he cried out for it, last night, at London's Royal Geographic Society. More precisely, he opined that he considers no woman writer his equal. None. Not a one.
Jane Austen, you say? She in particular he spits upon for "her sentimental ambitions, her sentimental sense of the world." He also claims that he can tell "within a paragraph or two" whether a piece of writing is "by a woman or not." Not quite "Name That Tune" but still a neato party trick. Women's writing is "unequal"--mostly, you know, because of the "sentimentality, the narrow view of the world."
This isn't our fault, though. It's because, "inevitably for a woman, she is not a complete master of a house, so that comes over in her writing too." And he dismisses the writing of his own publisher as "feminine tosh." But don't worry, Lady Publisher! He doesn't "mean this in any unkind way."
Anyhoo. Isn't this all adorable? So refreshingly old school and out-of-touch. No wonder he's introduced at tony literary events as prickly, unapologetic and controversial. And that's by people who like him! Delightful. And also, very, very sad. (I know. Whipsawing emotions. Can't help it. Female hormones.)
Through July 10 at American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary (at Mason), S.F. Tickets are $40-$127; call 749-2228 or visit www.act-sf.org.
NOTE: A full-length version of this review will appear in print and online on June 22.
28 Barbary Lane just got a little bit gayer. On May 31, A.C.T. premiered a new musical based on Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City novels, with music and lyrics co-written by Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears.
If you're a fan of the books, you'll probably get downright giddy at the sight of Mary Ann Singleton (the radiant Betsy Wolfe) belting out a production number on her first day as a resident of San Francisco, or Michael "Mouse" Tolliver (Wesley Taylor) performing a fully choreographed striptease in the Jockey Shorts Dance Contest. But even the most enthusiastic Maupin partisans should be prepared for a show that is in every respect a very mixed bag.
Why are you wasting your neuorosis on your shrink? It could make you famous! TLC freak show nonpareil My Strange Addiction is currently looking on Craigslist for people willing to appear on the show in return for a little facetime on cable.
For those that haven't seen the show, because they still have things like "dignity" or "no cable," it's a standard-issue reality show in the vein of Hoarders or Intervention, that features people with very non-standard obsessive behaviors.
We've got the Craigslist ad after the jump.
Catchy Signoff
Ugh, tell me about it. If Sean Penn sends me one more Facebook invitation to his Cheese and Gherkin parties, I'm gonna lose my shit. There's certainly a delicate balance between being a fan and being an all-out wackadoo. Ever since Amanda Palmer asked me out on Twitter, I've probably been a bit too zealous in trying to get her to follow me back. Psst, Amanda: Look! SHINY.
