Threads review, mnfringe show 21, Least Likely to Succeed: Tales from a Midwestern Homeschooler - I love the standup comedy of @tristanjmiller, just watching his clever brain wend its way through both the established set and the various tangents is super entertaining. And he had to push on through the muted response of a small Minnesota crowd (we find it hard to laugh loudly if we think we’ll draw too much attention to ourselves :) Doubly impressive - 5 stars (my Fringe Top 10 write-up)
“If you work weekends, it doesn’t.”
Stand-up comedy at the Fringe can be a challenge for a performer. Fringe audiences don’t get a lot of it on a regular basis, so they’re not expecting it. A lot of the Fringe crowd crosses over directly from a regular theater crowd. The stand-up comedy crowd doesn’t normally think of the Fringe as a place where they might find more stand-up (even though we have at least two shows this year that I’m aware of in the mix). The Fringe crowd is used to solo shows being more storytelling style. When Tristan Miller last visited the Minnesota Fringe in 2019 with his stand-up comedy show “Manic Impressive,” it had a more solid, all-encompassing throughline with its subject matter, tying together the set in other people’s minds. No one thought it was storytelling, but it was close enough to be considered storytelling-adjacent. Tristan just wandered around with a microphone instead of hanging out by a music stand with a script on it.
“This is what all candy tastes like, Jagermeister and disappointment.”
Apparently, a couple of audience members from the first performance of Miller’s new stand-up comedy set, “Least Likely to Succeed: Tales from a Midwestern Homeschooler” were expecting storytelling (“look,” they say, “it has tales in the title”) and when they got a stand-up show, they posted reviews that faulted it for not being storytelling instead. So at the second performance which I attended, he started the evening by trying to level-set expectations for folks. Series of jokes, folks, not storytelling.
“You all heard that ghost horse, right?”
“Least Likely to Succeed” does succeed as stand-up, although Miller had the added challenge the night I attended of having a smaller crowd, a little over a dozen folks in the seats. It’s hard to get laughs going in Minnesota with a smaller, dispersed crowd. No one wants to draw attention to themselves, so they tend to stay quiet. A laugh under these circumstances is a major victory. Miller soldiered on under his own steam, not getting much energy back from the crowd to assist him. Also we had the noise from street construction just outside the theater for added distraction.
“The trick to doing a New Zealand accent: do an Australian accent, then get a little shy about it.”
The show does delve into the home-schooling he went through as a kid, its ties to the church, and how that had a ripple effect when he finally started public school, at the high school level (yikes). It also affected future jobs, like working at a pre-school, which is something he personally never experienced. There’s also some material about a trip to New Zealand when he needed to get out of New York City after getting shot - by a BB gun.
“When I read, God laughs. Particularly if it’s a Steinbeck novel.”
Your mileage may vary but I personally really enjoy the rhythm and cadence of the way Tristan Miller executes a joke, as well as the way he goes off on a tangent for a bit now and again and then brings it back to the central premise. If you’re in the mood for a change of pace and want to hear some good, original humor writing, Tristan Miller has you covered.
5 Stars - Very Highly Recommended
Here's some handy links to coverage of shows I've seen in the Fringe this year getting 5 and 4.5 Stars (Very Highly Recommended), 4 and 3.5 Stars (Highly Recommended) as well as the shows ranking 3 stars or less; also links to this year's Top 10 list and Top 11-20 list, also a full list of all returning favorites to this year's Fringe, plus a link to ALL the 2024 Minnesota Fringe Festival coverage.
While I have your attention, please VOTE :)
Minnesota is currently in the early voting period
for our Congressional and local primaries (I had the U.S. Senate,
Congress, and the Minneapolis school board on my ballot) - final day to
vote in the primary is Tuesday, August 13th, but you don't have to wait
until Fringe is over, go vote right now :)
Early voting for the Presidential Election itself in Minnesota starts on Friday, September 20th.
We're lucky to have a lot of time to get our voices heard, so cast your
vote, and then make sure everyone you know and love is registered and
gets to the polls to vote. Election Day, your final date to vote, is Tuesday, November 5th.
As a queer playwright and theater maker, I want a government that's compassionate and competent enough to keep us all safe and healthy, keep theaters open and running, and personally, I'd just like to be legal myself and keep the weirdos out of government and out of my personal business (and the things I post on this blog, for instance). We all have our reasons, so let's make sure we get the leaders we need and deserve, and get our friends, family and co-workers to raise their voices, too.
Find where to vote and what's on your ballot (with links to candidate websites) and other resources at the Minnesota Secretary of State's website.
For other resources on how to register, volunteer or donate, locally or nationally, check out Vote Save America.
Vote. Raise your voice. We're not going back.
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