Unless you are Mel Brooks, it's hard to get laughs out of Nazis, but John Fisher tries. His manic one-man history of World War II from D-Day to the Fall of Berlin, as he falls to the ground shooting a pretend rifle and gets the audience to make machine gun sounds, and German soldier sounds, and bombs-exploding sounds, is funny and gay. You will laugh, but you may have a problem with German soldiers being thought of as "hot," causing Fisher to hold his legs together as if he has to pee with, we suppose, desire. Perhaps we oldsters have stronger antipathy towards Nazi stormtroopers.
Not that the "great uniforms and monocle" joke doesn't work, once, but after the tenth time it started to feel kind of...weird. The guards at Auschwitz are not "hot." At least, not to this audience member.
John Fisher is a gifted physical comedian, as well as a student and encyclopedia of World War II. He has a great deal of fascinating information for us. Did you know the Russians raped their way into Berlin? Did you know how close the Germans came to winning the war at the end? Did you know Hitler was a vegetarian who didn't smoke or drink? All true. Now you know what to reply to your obnoxious friends who won't touch veal.
But we left the theater feeling we had missed the announcement that this is all high camp and everything is just a big joke. Maybe it is. Unless you miss the joke.
RATINGS: UNRATED
The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division feels a bit foolish and old fashioned, but we have chosen not to rate this show. John Fisher is a pro who knows how to work an audience. His show feels like a great party bit, but this is not a party everyone has been invited to. I'm afraid our invitation must have gotten lost, amidst all the confusion.
"John Fisher: A History of World War II"
The Marsh
1062 Valencia St., San Francisco
Thursdays and Saturdays through Dec. 15
$20-$35 Sliding Scale
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