[NEohioPAL]Sketch Comedy at the House of Blues

[Jef Etters]

Come see Last Call Cleveland, our city's premiere
sketch comedy group perform at the House of Blues,
Sunday, August 13th.  Doors open at 7, it is an 8pm
show.  Tickets are only 5 bucks for 2 hours of stand
up and sketch comedy.

Visit www.lastcallcleveland.com for downloads, comedy,
info and more!

Check out this review from the last HOB show on
Clevelandyuks.com

Last Call Cleveland @ HOB / 7/30/2006 
filed by: Joe Hannum 

Fantastic "Last Call Cleveland" show last night (July
30th) at House of Blues. If you didn't go, you should
definitely catch them again on Sunday August 13th.

First off, the Cambridge Room at House of Blues is a
great little venue for comedy. Simple raised stage in
front, bar in the back, comfy arm chairs line the
outside (for those that got there early) and
straight-back (but comfortable) chairs lined up the
middle of the room. From my guess, the room seats
about 80-100 when set up this way. Lighting and sound
was fine (incorporating 4-5 separate mics in some
bits). 

This was the first time I had seen LCC. I had heard
they were very good and I was not disappointed. They
did sketches, songs and videos - some bits used a
mixture of all three. 

All the players are good actors who knew their parts,
hit their lines and combined great expression and
physicality with the good writing. Mike Polk seems to
clearly be the leader of this troupe appearing in most
of the sketches and generating some of the biggest
laughs, but I was impressed with everyone. Aaron
McBride also stood out with his cartoonish mannerisms
and great comedic timing to all his lines. All the
guys are surprisingly good singers which they take
advantage of in several musical numbers. 

I'm not going to give away any of the sketches other
to say that the bits and songs seem to start out
innocent and "square" only to quickly head down a
hilarious dark path. The topics are somewhat edgy such
as racism, religion, homophobia, red neck drunk
fathers and making fun of the elderly and
disabilities, but always seem to stay on this side of
that so called "line". 

Conservative audiences might take exception to the
occasional F bomb or the material, but it is always
presented with a wry sarcastic style that lets you
know they're not taking themselves or the dark themes
too seriously. In fact, the guys from LCC are in many
ways, making fun of themselves, or at least other
20-30 something single white guys and their somewhat
fraternity-inspired closed minded attitudes. 

My only complaint of the show was not LCC's fault at
all. The tech guy from HOB couldn't seem to figure out
the timing of the projector for the big screen for the
videos. He kept turning it out too late, not
accounting for the fact that it takes 30 seconds to
warm up. As a result, videos were playing on side TVs
before the big screen came on. A minor timing glitch
that I'm sure they'll figure out for the next show. 

Overall, a terrific performance from some very funny
guys who deserve your support and attendance. Just
like Saturday night at your favorite watering hole, if
you want to add a little hilarity to your evening,
don't miss out on "Last Call".

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