JFL42: The Alternative Show w/ Andy Kindler
Andy Kindler and Todd Glass close out Wednesday night’s Alternative Show at JFL42. Photo by Sharilyn Johnson.
Monday’s and Tuesday’s editions were standing room only, but while Wednesday’s crowd was smaller and less boisterous, that didn’t stop the comics from having a ball on stage.
Todd Barry campaigned to have bloggers rank his set as the #1 moment of the night, and while the argument was convincing based on his slams of Humber College alone, the competition was just too stiff to call: Pat Thornton performed a bit he originally did infront of Kindler at an impromptu post-show gathering in Comedy Bar’s cabaret space last fall, which consists only of him passionately lipsynching Adele’s “Someone Like You”; James Adomian took the stage as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and got up close and personal with the male audience members he grilled about Robin Hood’s whereabouts; and Sean Cullen’s lengthy “Southern Lawyer” impression continues to please.
The best, though, is when things (inevitably) get purely ridiculous between Kindler, Adomian, and Todd Glass. United by their common love of meta-schtick, their comfort on the Comedy Bar stage (all three play there when they come to town), and Adomian’s uncanny impressions of Kindler and Glass, the show becomes a circus the moment they start improvising. These guys have so much fun playing off each other that you start suspecting that all this tomfoolery would still be happening even if an audience wasn’t there to witness it.
The Alternative Show continues Thursday and Friday nights at 11pm at Comedy Bar. Note: clear your schedule for the rest of the night, because the official 70-minute running time of this show is meaningless.
Photos of Wednesday night’s Alternative Show, copyright Sharilyn Johnson. May not be used without permission.
Mark Forward
James Hartnett
Sean Cullen
Sara Hennessey
Tim Gilbert
David Dineen-Porter
James Adomian as the “Sheriff of Nottingham”
Todd Barry
Pat Thornton belts out Adele
Todd Glass
About the Author
Sharilyn Johnson is the author of the book Bears & Balls: The Colbert Report A-Z. Called "one of the city’s most discriminating comedy critics” by NOW Magazine, Sharilyn has been covering comedy for longer than she cares to admit. She served as the comedy reporter for Winnipeg's Uptown Magazine for five years, and was the host of the radio show Laugh Tracks for three seasons. Her work has also appeared in the Toronto Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, The Apiary, and on CBC Radio's national comedy programs LOL and Definitely Not the Opera.
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