~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Magnificent (Ass) Show

byMaurissa Afanador
review in SF Examiner by Leslie Katz March 2002

Tickets & Directions / Home / Now Playing & Coming Soon / Back to Media List / To email us

Bottoms up!

By Leslie Katz
Of The Examiner Staff

There's a fine line between crass/funny and crass/offensive.

And even though "The (Magnificent) Ass Show" clearly delivers on the promise of its title, it
somehow manages stay in the funny corner -- not that it doesn't dangerously flirt with
offensive.

The good news is that most of the bits in this 25-sketch series on stage at the Exit
Theatre mercifully aren't but a minute or two, and, by gum, they're really funny.

To describe them in too much detail would give away the jokes. These are jokes
guaranteed to produce groans, cries of "gross!"-- and loud guffaws.

But in the name of public service, we'll just talk about a few of the characters. In a skit
called "Perpetuating the Stereotype," there's Mrs. Taco Whiterash, the pregnant chain
smoker who argues with her fetus (a doll strung up on a fishing pole).

Then there's the blonde known as "the a--hole people tolerate because I'm beautiful."

OK, how about "Children with Disabilities," featuring a headless little girl bouncing around
on her dad's lap? (Dad says, "We feed her by pouring soup down her exposed esophagus.")

Some of the skits begin with a higher concept. Even though they degenerate to hilarious
rudeness, we all can relate to "The Everyday Superheroes," folks like the "Low Self-Esteem
Woman" and "Lobbying for the Wrong Cause Woman."

"Kyle's Story," a moving tale about the nerdy kid who gets bullied on the playground,
starts out like an after-school special and ends up like "South Park." How can you go wrong
with attitude like that?

The ringleader of these goofy, sometimes surreal proceedings (at one point, a body with a
16-pound ham head tells the story of "Nice People Who Died") is Maurissa Afanador, a sprite
with the mouth of a truck driver who takes most of the responsibility for writing this stuff.

She's a hoot, as are her compatriots. Joel Bischoff, Nina Breton, Leslie Einhorn, Stefanie
Goldstein, Debra Niestat, Fred Salvallon, Torsten Sannar and David Stein giddily round out
the action, as well as inspire an audience just about dumbstruck by how low they'll go.

This self-proclaimed "comedy spectacular" (there's also a different musical guest each
performance) takes place in front of a brightly colored banner boasting a big, naked cartoon
butt.

Simply put, this is a concept that all but the faint-hearted should get behind.
Home / Now Playing & Coming Soon / Back to Media List / To email us