Bumbershoot presented a strong lineup of comedians this year, from up-and-coming locals to rising stars with late-night credits. They were no huge stars like Sarah Silverman or Marc Maron as in previous years, but still plenty of great performers that audiences lined up to see.
For Sunday Bumbershoot did away with the special passes needed to get into the festival’s comedy shows and instead just went with a first-come, first-served approach. For the most part, this enabled the earlier shows to fill up faster and made it easier for fans to get in to see comedy, rather than be stuck in line waiting for tickets.
Dana Snyder, Black Box Theatre
Dana Snyder opened Saturday’s festival with a song, crooning to his audience “You’re the classiest [expletive] crowd we’ve ever met. You make Brad Pitt look like that kid from ‘Mask.’” (Profanity was in ample supply on the comedy stages all weekend.) Most fans know Snyder as the comedic voice actor of Master Shake from the Cartoon Network’s “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.” Snyder, accompanied by a pianist, also played ukulele and joked with the audience “What did the deer say when she walked out of the woods? That’s the last time I do that for two bucks!”
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Los Angeles comedian Bryan Cook got big laughs from a packed house with bits about cocaine and drinking. “I’m tired of hearing ‘bad decision stories.’ You drank too much and had sex with a stranger? That sounds like the best night of my life!,” Cook said.
The show also featured Solomon Georgio, formerly of Seattle, but now living in Los Angeles, who joked about some of his least favorite phrases. “Pimpin ain’t easy? Good! That’s not a job that should be easy.”
Former Seattle comedian Hari Kondabolu, who got his big break at Bumbershoot in 2006, also had a great set in which he delved in to the current political landscape.
“Hillary Clinton could be the first female president. Finally, the illuminati picked a female to be president,” Kondabolu said. “There are men who say a woman can’t be president because her biology will interfere with her judgment once a month, but I am a man with a penis whose judgment is impaired every 7-10 minutes.”
Bridget Everett, Comedy at the Playhouse
If there was a break out star at this year’s festival it was Bridget Everett. The alt-cabaret performer dazzled audiences with her powerful voice and sexually explicit songs. “Let me clear up a few things, ‘Bridget, are you wearing a bra?’ Nope. Don’t need one,” Everett told the audience.
Throughout her show she singled out members of the audience and at times used her body as a prop. In a song she referred to her breasts as “longer than a beaver tail” and then proceeded to rub them on audience members’ heads. Audiences howled with laughter and rewarded her with a rambunctious standing ovation both Saturday and Sunday.
When Everett spotted a pair of teenage brothers in the front row it seemed as if she sensed they might be getting more than they bargained for. “If marijuana is legal in Seattle, then so is this!”
Neil Hamburger, Black Box Theatre
Neil Hamburger is a character played by Gregg Turkington and that character is the world’s worst comedian. With a greasy black comb-over and holding three drinks at once he shuffled on stage and delivered some of the most tasteless one liners and knock-knock jokes ever told.
“What’s the worst thing about being sexually abused by a member of Foghat? Probably not even an original member.”
If that was bad, it got worse.
“Why did Eric Clapton switch from a PC to a Mac? Because he had so many problems with windows.”
His jokes got more groans than laughs and what laughs he did get were forced. A good portion of the audience not in on the gag streamed out of the venue.