Fritz Coleman (Photo by Christopher Knell)
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
El Portal Theatre
Through March 24
RECOMMENDED
“For 40 years, I was nothing more than Vanna White with maps,” cracks Fritz Coleman in his beguiling and very funny stand-up show at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood.
Between 1982 and 2020 when he retired, Coleman served as weathercaster for KNBC in LA, becoming something of a local celebrity for his unconventional delivery of the weather which, in his own words, featured “bullshit and jokes.” (Coleman also hosted or appeared in other network shows, including It’s Fritz from 1988 to 1990 and What a Week from 1990 to 1991.)
But prior to hiring on as a weathercaster, Coleman performed as a comedian, disc jockey, standup comic, a metier he’s since returned to with great success if the performance I attended this past weekend serves as a measure.
The show’s title, Unassisted Residency, is a wry twist on the loaded term “assisted living” — the rendering of support, in a residential facility, to elderly seniors who need help going about their day-to-day lives but are (blessedly) too healthy for a nursing home. Coleman’s material leans toward topics that inform the lives of older folks, but the targets of his humor aren’t limited to such: They also include things like buying a car — utilizing your cell phone versus the lengthy, tortuous in-person trek from dealer to dealer we’re all familiar with, or being invited to a vegan barbecue where the “steak” is composed of pecans and hummus. In the realm of personal recollections, Coleman muses on the irony of being someone who as a student flunked algebra multiple times, but ended up spokesperson in a field where expertise requires command of math and science.
Each show has an opening act, and the one I attended featured comedienne Wendy Liebman whose riffs — having to do with Amazon and minimalism, for example — deal with the droll contrariety that is part and parcel of the choices people make.
Apart from the laughs — and there are many — what’s appealing about Coleman’s performance is his manner of delivery, his fluid ease with the audience as he shares his on-point insights into contemporary American life.
El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., N. Hollywood; Sun., Jan. 18, Feb. 25, and March 24, 3 pm. Running time: approximately 75 minutes with no intermission. https://nohoartsdistrict.com/noho-theatres/fritz-colemans-unassisted-residency-live/
