One of my good friends and I won tickets to any night of comedy at Flappers – I’m guessing they might just rotate through previous guests because she and I neither entered a raffle nor have names near each other, but it’s genius marketing. Make someone think they’ve won four free tickets, but they’re still on the hook for the 2 item minimum, House still wins.
So 8 of us got to see Jeff Garlin’s current residency at Flappers and with no such thing as a bad seat in that venue, we were pleased as punch – even waiting at the bar while a children’s party (no joke) filtered out. That’s a kid I wanna hang out with.
In an odd twist, Don Rickles’ daughter opened for Garlin. She had a couple of good laughs, but mostly relied on her crowd work and her name. It was still a fairly cold room when Mat Edgar came up to break the ice with a full set of solid material and the mustache / trucker hat combo that begs for laughs.
Garlin is a gifted professional who after 30 years in comedy can take the stage with little prepared and still make his way through a set without relying heavily on heckling the audience, though that was a good five minutes with another 15 reserved for questions from the audience, which was an odd way to finish the set, but hey, you’re the one working out material for a Netflix special so… okay?
Dressed in sweat pants and a Lacoste tee shirt he still thought making fun of a guy in a Spider-Man hat would win him points with the audience, just before launching into his love for all things Spider-Man… A lot of his set was reminiscing and poking fun at himself with a brief moment on why he doesn’t tackle politics while touching on the recent video of a group of Kentucky boys harassing an Indigenous Elder who was demonstrating in Washington DC.
All in all it was a good night of comedy with friends and worth the ticket price (free), but unless you’re a hard core Curb Your Enthusiasm fan or just need a night out, I’d wait for the aforementioned Netflix special.
