Review on the fly:
#mnfringe show 12: 1 Hour Left To Live: 1 puppet on its deathbed, surrounded by a team of fellow (human) improvisers, creating a wacky non-linear rapid fire tour thru the puppet's life (and afterlife) with a little stand-up comedy right in the middle; inspired lunacy tied to a rocket - 5 stars
A person on their death bed? Not funny. A puppet on their death bed? Comedy gold. In the right hands, of course. Thankfully in “1 Hour Left To Live: A One Puppet Show by That Felt Good,” the puppet is on the hand of co-writer/co-producer Phoebe Bottoms, who’s also a gifted improviser. Flanked by a team of equally quick-witted improv comedians (Steph Callaghan, Zelia Gonzales, Eric Heiberg, Patrick McIntyre, James Moore, Chris Rodriguez, Phillip Simondet, and Meg Trowbridge), the puppet recounts the highs, lows and regrets of their checkered past.
“Maybe I equated sandwiches with love.”
Not right away, however. Pal the puppet has a tendency to plagiarize details from actor Chazz Palminteri’s biography, as laid out in the one-man show “A Bronx Tale” (which later became a movie). However, after an extended riff in this vein to start the show, the priest, Father Padre (co-writer/improviser Victor Gonzalez), calls the puppet out on his lies and implores him to tell his real story. First, Father Padre asks the audience for a couple of suggestions (the day I attended, the chosen elements ended to being the occupation of race car driver, and activity of jumping rope). And a couple of suggestions are all improvisers this gifted need to get things rolling.
“Jesus and the 12 disciples and the last improv jam. These are my suggestions, use them in remembrance of me.”
What follows is a random, non-linear recounting of major events and relationships (parents, teachers, lovers, children) of the puppet’s life which keep building on one another and cycling back around with callbacks of characters and themes recurring to hilarious effect. Layering on top of the improv is music director John Hilsen on keyboard, providing a soundtrack that either fits the mood of the current scene, or could prod it in a different direction (wait a minute, is someone about to kiss a puppet, or is the puppet about to kiss them?). With Bottoms articulating the puppet’s movement and giving them a voice, the puppet can either be a regular scene partner, or devolve into adorable hugging and cuddling.
“My ears! Where are my ears?!”
Partway through, the puppet admits to Father Padre that, “I’ve died before.” But what they mean is, they spectacularly failed in their stand-up set at a comedy club once. Which is where the rotating roster of stand-up comedians come in (the day I saw it, the comedian was Lily Meyer; but it changes with each performance. The other comedians on the roster were Jamie Carbone, Ben Katzner, James Stanley, and Comrade Tripp). It’s an excuse for a comedian to do a tight five before Pal the puppet comes out and does their terrible stand-up set (which again, they’re stealing material from A Bronx Tale). During the guest comedian’s stand-up set, the other improvisers disappear into the audience so they’re ready to mercilessly heckle the puppet for their Bronx Tale misappropriation. So yes, the puppet has died (on stage) before. This sequence is also an excuse for the voice of Comedy Club Announcer Ron Lynch to make comments about the night’s menu, their riot-prone environment, and bemoan that one of the waitresses dumped him.
“We weren’t gonna kiss!”
“Who doesn’t want to kiss their school principal?”
Soon after, the puppet actually dies. But wait, the show’s still got a lot of time in the hour left. Oh, Father Padre tells the audience it’s now time to determine the fate of Pal the puppet’s eternal soul. Depending on audience response (singing like angels or howling like demons), the puppet goes to Heaven or Hell, or if Father Padre think it’s too close to call, the puppet goes to Purgatory. At the performance I attended, Purgatory it was. In the afterlife, the puppet meets new folks, but also people they recognize from the cast of characters we were introduced to during their life retrospective. And, oh no, Chazz Palminteri’s there, too, and he’s pissed.
“Here to stare into the void, too, huh?”
Co-writers Bottoms and Gonzalez, with fellow co-writers Colin Klug and Matt Olson (also director/co-producer) have built a great framework in which all the improvised biographical antics can take place. And the life story, just like the afterlife sequences, are rapid-fire so no bit hangs around long enough to wear out its welcome. So when there’s a callback, the audience is on board with a returning character and another twist in the relationship. Here, of course, with the race car driver prompt, we got a race or two, plus some comedically horrifying accidents. Your results will vary depending on whose shouted suggestion makes the cut.
“What are we doing on the Eiffel Tower?”
“1 Hour Left to Live” is great improv comedy that also has the benefit of a beginning, middle and end like a more standard story, so all those jokes have somewhere to land. Like I said at the top, inspired lunacy tied to a rocket.
5 Stars, Very Highly Recommended
You can find reviews of other shows in these links to my listings of 5 and 4.5 Star Shows (VERY Highly Recommended) and 4 and 3.5 Star Shows (Highly Recommended). Here's a link to a list of all the coverage of returning favorite artists from past pre-Fringe Top 20 lists of mine that are part of this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival. And here's links to the 2026 versions of my pre-Fringe Top 10 list and Top 11 through 20 for the 2026 festival.
No comments:
Post a Comment