Photo credit: Jason Spiro
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Alt-comedy icons Michael Showalter, David Wain, and Michael
Ian Black, alumni of MTV's much missed sketch comedy show
The State, have been performing their live comedy show
Stella since 1997 in Manhattan. An anarchic stage show loosely
structured around events in the lives of three nymphomaniac
simpletons, Stella has gained international popularity thanks
in part to the ready online availability of the
self-consciously low-budget videos that are the centerpieces
of the live performances, which follow Showalter, Wain, and
Black as they embark upon a series of mundane adventures, such
as playing wiffle ball, ordering pizza, and indiscriminately
humping inanimate objects. Thus, as a result of this broad new
fanbase, the three comedians decided to take their show on the
road.
Their 10 July show at Chicago's Logan Square Auditorium was
the final stop on a 12-city tour. The show started about 90
minutes late, thanks in large part to poor line discipline on
the part of the comedy nerds and trucker-capped emo kids who
made up the bulk of the audience (note to fashion world: for
the love of God, leave the trucker caps to America's
hardworking CB jockeys and longshoremen). Opener Eugene Mirman
finally came on around 11:30, looking lost, or drunk, but he
pleasantly surprised with a very funny set, highlights of
which included his PowerPoint presentation on Maslow's
hierarchy of needs and a video of himself from the future,
emphatically declaring: "Do not trust President Nick Nolte!"
Showalter, Wain, and Black came on almost immediately
afterwards, beginning the show by waving ribbons on sticks and
dancing in unison to a Spin Doctors song for about five
minutes. Uncomfortably long yet humorous precisely because of
its length, the bit was reminiscent of the scene in the
Simpsons episode "Cape Feare" in which Sideshow Bob
steps on about a dozen rakes in succession, with exactly the
same reaction each time. That scene was the deconstruction of
an inherently stupid joke; the joke's interminable extension
transforming it into something uniquely hilarious. Stella's
modus operandi is much the same: the absurdist
extrapolations of everyday mundanities and numerous
show-business conventions, filtered through the childlike
characters created by Showalter, Wain, and Black. Jokes are
not told; when they are, they are self-consciously lame and
'jokey.' Instead, Stella finds humor in the characters'
celebration of the commonplace.
Their bickering self-introductions went on for five
minutes, ending with the three of them enthusiastically
thanking the audience in unison. The group mocked audience
participation by leading the audience in a cheer ("When I say
'Stella,' you say 'Cheer!' When I say 'King,' you say
'Lear!'") that devolved into an advertisement for John Deere
Mowers. They solicited the name of a celebrity (Gene Hackman)
from the audience, promising to use the name in a way that we
had never heard before -- when they did use the name, it was
predictably underwhelming ("What in the name of Gene
Hackman are you talking about?").
Stella's pretensions would be unpleasant if the actors
presenting them used a mocking or ironic tone. Thankfully,
Black, Wain, and Showalter have steered clear of this. Their
characters are blissfully unique: latently homosexual idiot
man-children with short attention spans, unfailingly polite
yet incredibly petty. They proclaimed that the theme of the
night's show was friendship, yet spent a good ten minutes
discussing Michael Ian Black's new play, David Wain's a
Superfag. As in Wain's 2001 film Wet Hot American
Summer, the character interactions seem to resolve around
trigger-less conflicts and unwarranted resolutions. Talking
about the Irish for some reason, Michael Showalter
enthusiastically exclaimed that he was looking forward to
eating "all those great Irish foods like fish tacos and Irish
soda bread." David Wain spoke a cautionary word: "Hey Mike, if
you eat all those foods, you'll get a tummy ache." Showalter
turned and screamed "Fuck you David!"
It's all incredibly strange, but for the most part it
works. The show ran aground in the middle with an
ill-conceived bit about them and Weird Al Yankovic at a Grammy
Awards after-party. Making fun of marginal celebrities like
Weird Al is pathetically easy. Even if the manner in which
it's done is original -- in this case, Black, Wain, and
Showalter bragged about having group sex with Weird Al at a
deserted Applebee's -- it still borders on trite. Thankfully,
the three came back strong with their video in which they and
Paul Rudd went foraging for frankfurters in the wilderness.
The show closed much like it started, with Black, Wain, and
Showalter exclaiming "Yay, we did it, hurray!" and freezing
like the end of an '80s after-school special while "Fire and
Rain" played in the background. Bizarrely engaging, incredibly
funny, Stella is as unique a comedy show as you are ever
likely to see.
— 29 July 2003
