The Pun That Started a Round of Applause...

Pam remembered it!

It happened after the fight between King Arthur and the Black Knight (who loses his arms and legs in the process).

A beggar walks by, calling out, "Alms for the poor, alms for the poor."

Then he picks up the fallen arms. Arms for the poor. Wokka wokka!

In retrospect, it's not that hilarious, but the timing was right to bust out the applause.

Spamalot

Last night, in what could be the final theatre-going event of 2008 (or longer, depending on how much I end up tightening the financial belt), Pam and I went to see Monty Python's Spamalot.

It's closing soon, they're offering $20 tickets (visit http://www.BroadwayOffers.com and enter the code SPBAL20), and it's the Year of Yes, so why not?

Plus, we'd seen a lot of downer theatre this year (Equus, All My Sons), so we thought it'd be nice to end the year on an upbeat musical.

The show was all right. I'd rather watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail, obviously, but it was a way to spend the evening. And it had a lot of puns! I love 'em! I'm an idiot! They're one of my favorite things, I find them just punderful.

When King Arthur said, "The grail is a symbol..." and the percussionist in the orchestra hit a cymbal, oh, how I laughed.

During a dance number, when someone carried out a bale of hay and everyone on stage pointed at it and said "Hey!" rhythmically, I hit my knee and elbowed Pam painfully to let her know how much I appreciated that horrible bit of wordplay.

And there's one more, I wish I could remember it, but I just started applauding. And I didn't stop. Pretty soon, the audience picked up on it, and they were applauding their approval for some stupid pun.

I was pretty proud of that moment. If there's one thing I can do, it's incite a crowd to action - I once got everyone in line at Splash Mountain to sing "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" or some similar song. Oh, and when we landed in Orlando last month, I got the other passengers to applaud. Yeah, I'm a regular John Candy from Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

I kept track of the number of puns in the second act - there were ten. I was curious if any of them would get spontaneous applause that wasn't started by me. No pun in ten did.

That's my show, good night, folks!

Grandma and the F*ck Yous: Last Show Ever!

Tonight is the LAST SHOW EVER by the awesomest riot grrl band to ever come out of Elizabeth College, Grandma and the F*ck Yous. Come see it!

Grandma and the F*ck Yous: Last Show Ever!
A timeless tale of Riot Grrrls, Punk Rock, Love, Violence, Queer Action, Betrayal, Activism, & Hair Dye.
December 3rd, 9:30 PM
$5

WRITTEN BY: Lynn Bixenspan & Betsy Todd
DIRECTED BY: Kirk Damato
FEATURING: Bob Acevedo, Eric Bernat, Lynn Bixenspan, Stan Laikowski, Sarah Nowak, Betsy Todd
LOCATION: UCB Theatre 307 W. 26th Street (@ 8th Ave.)
Call 212-366-9176 or click here for reservations.

Equus? Heck, yes!

Pam and Michael Martin are taking me to see Equus on Thursday as a birthday present, and I'm pretty psyched about it. Actually, I'm always pretty psyched about something, and after the suck-month that was September (Sucktember), I'm glad October is gearing out to be pretty good.

Back in the day, Pam and MM and I used to see all sorts of show's during what is now known as "Broadway's Renaissance." We'd seen Xanadu, Grey Gardens, Frost/Nixon, and now, keeping in the tradition of seeing shows with only one or two words, Equus, which is not only creepy as heck, but features Harry Potter naked (or so I've been told).

I feel that this almost makes up for me not getting to see Hamlet with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart in England, for sadly that trip didn't prove feasible in this time of economic and social uncertainty.

In conclusion, Thursday!

PS: That headline was the best Equus pun/rhyme I could come up with. If you have a better one, please leave it as a comment.