Saturday, June 4, 2016

Will Durst: Elect to Laugh 2016: ☼ ☼ ☼ BANG


With one nonstop joke after the other, Will Durst has us roaring in the aisles with big, galumphing belly laughs most of the way through the show. His take-offs on every Republican and Democrat in the primary and debate process helps us recall the scope of the idiocy through which we have been living. Perhaps our favorite Durst line actually belonged to George Bush: "The trouble with the French is they have no word for entrepreneur." And "The American people love the Home Shopping Network because it is commercial free."

And let's not forget Carly Fiorina. Durst says "It took Carly one week to do to the Cruz campaign what it took her years to do to Hewlett Packard."


All very funny. And then we come to Trump, Sanders and Clinton. And it doesn't feel funny anymore. The lines are still good, their mishaps and foibles easy fodder for a comedian of Durst's abilities. But I don't feel like laughing at Donald Trump's women. I don't think Hillary Clinton's email troubles are even real, let alone worth joking about. And Bernie Sanders fills me with fear, because I think he wants to put a bazooka through the whole piñata. None of these people strike me as funny.

So if you take things the least bit seriously, you may have a little trouble with Elect to Laugh 2016. It never seemed so bad when we all laughed at Mitt Romney and Obama. Or John Kerry and George Bush. This year, I don't know.

RATINGS: ☼ ☼ ☼ BANG

The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division awards "Elect to Laugh 2016" Three Stars with a Bangle of Praise. The Jokes are so damned funny and just about all of them would earn a big, snarfly Bangle. Bill Clinton and Helen Thomas. Marco Rubio's racist denial. Chris Christie in the baseball uniform, oh, oh, wait, that's for real? Yup. It all is.


Will Durst: Elect to Laugh 2016
The Marsh
1062 Valencia Street, San Francisco
Tuesdays 8pm ONLY
EXTENDED Through  July 26
$15-$35 (sliding scale)

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