In my preview for this show, I promised “Nat Iosbaker does something live I’ve only ever seen once before, on a recent trip to Thailand.”
While that statement was deliberately designed to conjure images of the seediest aspects of Bangkok’s nightlife, I was referring to a nature preserve in Northern Thailand where trained elephants paint on command using their trunks.
The elephants are not good artists. They paint mostly trees.
At the start of Cavern of Whimsy #2, we got the audience suggestion “dinosaur.” Nat’s no elephant, but he spent the next hour at the back of the stage painting in watercolor and emerged at the end with this:
It was one of many whimsical such happenings.
– Nick Luciano took the stage as “John”, a desperate man searching for love in all the wrong restaurants.
– Jason Palmer, Tessa Williams, and Emerson Dibley also used the suggestion “dinosaur” to create the following characters: “Manuel, the tallest man in the Philippines”; “Helen, the DIY blogger who discovered a real human skeleton in her backyard”; and “Curtis, the urban archaeologist who dumpster-dove 15 minutes before the show in order to assemble his wardrobe.”
– Joy Mamey sang songs of sad love and Scottish hip hop.
– I gave a guided slideshow tour of the Venice Beach Boardwalk. Hint: it included marijuana-themed merchandise.
– Finally, magic and mentalism duo David & Leeman read minds, then blew them. (Minds.)
I’m eternally grateful to both my performers and my audience for being a part of it. Tell your kids, tell your wife: next month we’ll do it all again, only completely different. If you want to be a part of it, all you have to do is ask.
-Mike
Great stand-up with tons of jokes, one-liner-style. Because one-liners are all we can afford in this economy.
Sketch comedy duo. Played both Second City and Upright Citizen’s Bridge Theater; now it’s Cavern time. God Bless America, indeed.
Magician, plus comedy. One of the best you’ll ever see. Period.
Me, the host. Near an uprooted tree.