Review-ish: Harvard Sailing Team

By Jeff Kreisler on 05/06/2009

This is where I start getting in trouble.

As a performer, I love/hate reviews. It's good to get some critical feedback, but some reviewers seem to have their own agenda, just trying to be sensationalist, stick out in crowd, or work through their own issues. There was a show at the Edinburgh Fringe last year which - I kid you not - was called "worse than the Holocaust." Yeah.

And... reviews of "art" are frustratingly subjective. Our show "The Americans" got a meh review in one pub (the jokes "a sledgehammer to the face") while another said we had a "laugh out loud script" and a third compared it favorably to The Daily Show, Mr. Show, and American Dad. Waddaya gonna do?

In other words: reviewers suck.

With that in mind - i.e. I suck - my no-longer-hidden review agenda is to use shows to generate thoughts - and inspire a discussion - about the important elements of sketch comedy, not be the Ben Brantley of the Land Shark set. My style will infuriate some, confuse others, and get a select group of people extremely hot (hi mom!).

Prefacing over, here's a review about Harvard Sailing Team (HST), which is really a review about me:

I caught HST at their regular Saturday night spot at The Pit in NYC with an audience of about 20 fellow darkhairs. (Even though most hipsters have dark hair, I reserve the label "hipster" for those who are intentionally un-showered. I didn't smell these darkhairs).

HST's performance was great. They put on a show that was tightly written, directed and performed. It was a professional production of excellent, well-rounded work. There was singing and dancing - a daring start in the High School Musical era, but they pulled it off - a range of characters both unique and relatable, funny jokes, subtle twists, cleverness, call backs, surprises, and layers. (Lord, how I loves me some layers). The HST, um, sailors(?) clearly knew each other well, allowed each other to play, and gave each other ample chance to shine. All good things.

Go see them.

What about that list of sketch comedy keys? Let's see... (We'll revisit in a few months).

End It.
What're the top 3 complaints about Saturday Night Live? "The sketches go on too long."
Ending a sketch is the hardest thing to do, because we pursue the ideal crescendo that crests with orgasmic laughter at lights out. Not every sketch can end with panting breath, and that's okay. Sometimes a sketch is good enough that you can do without a perfect button. But you do need to end it. Just get out as naturally as possible. Don't drag on so long that we forget the good times. (That should be a rule for relationships: Get out before you forget the good times, it doesn't have to end with a bang or a murder-suicide).
HST did 12 sketches. 7 ended expertly. Bravo. 3 ended in that nice "it was a funny sketch, let's just get while the getting's good" way. 2 of them didn't end super great. Still better than SNL.

Enjoy The Silence.
Most comic performers, whether in stand up, sketch, or awkward family dinner, are not comfortable with silence. They need to be. Silence provides an opportunity to evolve layers and actions and communication that take ideas from good to borderline-genius.
HST had two sketches that were almost entirely devoid of dialogue. Extra pants!

Have Fun, Damnit.
One of the godfathers of San Francisco comedy, Tony Sparks, always said "You gotta bring the party with you." It's true for comedy, weddings, and life. If you're having fun, others will, too. Don't be the act that laughs at all of his own jokes, often drowning out the silence on the other side of the fourth wall - gawd how audiences hate that - but have fun in your own unique, non-forced way.
HST was clearly having a good time with themselves, the material, the space, and the audience. Extra pants!

Don't Be Too Inside.
NYC - and probably LA, too - has a glut of performance that is devoid of perspective and entirely Inside The Beltway (yeah, political reference, I'm new). A little bit's good- don't deny your reality - but no one wants a 30 minute piece about waiting tables to pay for touch-ups to your digital headshots for a third callback with that one casting director who's way too influenced by Chaucer. Give me back my 5 dollars.
HST a few sketches that were a insidery - the crazed commercial casting director, the musical number on a life boat, the monster sketch breakdown - but they didn't stay insidery. HST took them to universally funny levels that all could enjoy. And all did. Even the one kid in the back with the lonely blonde hair.

Harvard Sailing Team: 12 out of 10 pants!
My first review: 4 out of 10 pants!

[Photo: Harvard Sailing Team, courtesy of Keith Huang]