Debbie Kasper (Photo by Lindsay V. Jones)
Reviewed by G. Bruce Smith
McComb Productions at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble
Through April 12
RECOMMENDED
Debbie Kasper (Photo by Lindsay V. Jones)
Debbie Kasper, writer and performer of her one-woman show, Monkeys on My Back and Everywhere Else, is a very funny woman. She comes from a stand-up background, and it shows. But a stand-up routine and a narrative with a strong throughline are different beasts. Monkeys turns out to be a collection of anecdotes from her life, but it’s tied together at the end in such a hilarious and unexpected way that the ride is definitely worth the price of admission.
This is not to say that the journey with Kasper is not enjoyable before the clever ending. Nor is it to say that Kasper, as protagonist, lacks a character arc. Or that she doesn’t come to terms with the monkeys on her back.
Kasper — a veteran comedian, writer (including such TV shows as Roseanne), and actor — clearly has comedic chops. After a slow start, Kasper takes us through the ups and downs of her life. This is shaped, in part, by a chain-smoking mother (“she even smoked in the shower”) who is not exactly the nurturing type, and a father who calls her stupid. The portrait she paints of her mother is vivid and very funny. When she tells her mother she hasn’t had a drink in 30 years, her mother’s response is, “Well, that’s not my fault.”
One of Kasper’s topics is her years of alcohol addiction, which began at the age of 12, and which ended when she started attending AA meetings. She speaks of her joy at being a theater major at a Vermont college, loving the applause. She reveals her failure to get acting parts while still enjoying the stand-up circuit until, one drunken night, she gives a “sad, pathetic monologue” in a town in West Virginia.
After becoming sober, she starts writing. She writes “like crazy” — plays, TV pilots, screenplays, sitcoms. She does an award-winning one-woman show and gets agents and managers. She gets two Emmy nominations for her writing on The Rosie O’Donnell Show.
And then she meets Pat, who will become the love of her life and the subject of a good portion of her show. In one of the most hilarious bits in the show, she re-creates phone messages she leaves for Pat.
As a performer and as directed by Chris Barnes, Kasper isn’t especially dynamic. She uses only a small portion of a spacious stage — perhaps not surprising knowing that in many venues, stand-up comics do their routines on tiny stages. But that doesn’t really matter because the tale she spins is enough on its own.
Without giving anything away, Kasper ends her show by saying, “All I know is, monkeys go insane if they’re not touched. I’m ready to be touched again. Are you?”
You might or might not be touched by Monkeys, but you’re guaranteed to have a good time.
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, 2055 South Sepulveda Blvd., West LA. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 2 pm, Sat., March 21, 28 and April 4, 2 pm; thru April 12. www.odysseytheatre.com. Running time One hour, 25 minutes.
