Minnesota Fringe Festival 2010

Punchlines can't stop bullets. Herschel Douscheburg (America's #7 insult comic) will learn that the hard way, as he and his nephew Saul battle blood-thirsty hit men and cutthroat talent agents in a comedic battle royale.

Sam L Landman
Role: Herschel Douscheburg
sam was born and raised in birmingham, alabama, but somehow managed to escape with very little trauma. after dipping into the twin cities during a tour out of boston, he realized that minneapolis was the place for him. he left most of his possessions in a storage space in hackensack, nj and never looked back (seriously, hes been paying on that space for over eight years now).

apart from being involved in a few successful 48-hour film projects, a number of indie feature films (christian t. peterson's midnight chronicles; collision pictures' sucker lake park, further north) and quite a few commercials, sam's work has extensively been in theater.
his first role in minneapolis was in theatre pro rata's 'trainspotting' and his roles have only gotten more interesting since then.
sam has worked with park square theater, troupe america, girl friday, theatre in the round, walking shadow, and the jungle theater. in 2009, sam was voted best supporting actor by lavender magazine for his role as cherea in walking shadows 'caligula'.

Matthew Glover
Role: Saul Douscheburg
matthew has been doing theater and comedy in the twin cities since 1999. he is an ensemble member of sandbox theatre, and in 2010, performed with sandbox on the guthrie theater's dowling studio stage; remounting the 2009 minnesota fringe festival hit 'june of arc'.

matthew can be seen in the 4 track films feature "...and on the 7th day, god rocked!"; which won 2nd prize at the 2009 fargo film festival. As well as wut wut alma moving pictures' "illegal use of joe zopp"; which was a selection at the 2009 wisconsin film festival, and others.
Other film credits include "newtons disease", the short film "jimmy black's cadillac", and "to be or not to be: klingons and shakespeare", a blue-ray dvd featurette for the 2009 release of "star trek vi: the undiscovered country".

matthew was born and raised in minneapolis, and once daydreamed he was engaged to amy sedaris for a whole year. he insists it was the happiest time of his life. to no surprise, he lives alone with his rabbit roo.

Peter Ooley
Role: Morty/Franco
THEATRE: Cromulent Shakespeare Co: The Tempest; Torch Theater Co.: Macbeth; Walking Shadow Theatre Co.: Squawk, Caligula, The American Pilot, Cryptogram; L'eoile du Nord: Ten November; Huldufólk Theatre Co.: Largo Desolato, Burning Bright; Bellingham Theatre Guild: Harvey; Darkhorse Theatre Co.: Keely and Du; FILM: Life of Riley (4 Track Films) TRAINING: University of Minnesota, Duluth.

Steve Lattery
Role: Rudy Boyden
Steve has performed with numerous Theater companies in the Twin Cities. (Theater in the round, Pigs Eye, Fifty Foot Penguin)
Many of which are no longer operating, through hopefully no fault of his own.
You may have seen him in films like Mulligan, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and The Dukes of Hazard go to Hollywood)
Or Maybe you didn't, which would be a shame because he was quite good.
He is pleased as punch to be working with Pommelhorse and to be a part of the prestigious Fringe Festival
Seriously.

Lindsey McDonald Dorsey
Role: Coco
Lindsey McDonald Dorsey is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. She is box office manager of local showcase The Monday Night Comedy Show. She can also juggle and play the harmonica - at the same time, even, with the proper Dylan-esque headgear.

Shannon Rusten
Role: Stage Manager
Shannon Rusten trudged through the Everglades, held cameramen out speeding cars, and outran NASA security as an Associate Producer for PBS's DragonflyTV; shopped 'til she dropped and wrangled extras for New Line Cinema; and has done whatever needs doing for commercials and films in Minneapolis over the last 10+ years. A former stage manager for theaters such as Theater in the Round, Starting Gate, and Off Broadway Musical Theater, she now travels the country to lurk in the dark of corporate theater stages.

User reviews

mixed bag
by Kevin Drew Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
It was hard to know how to rate this show, because when the jokes it landed were worth 5 kitties, but it missed so many times I was also tempted to give it 3. Truthfully there are parts of this show I'm still laughing about several days later (like pretty much everything Franco says) so I can at least say that good or bad I hope to see more of Pommelhorse.

To Paraphrase
by tim dababa Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Sad Carousel today. Sad Carousel tomorrow. Sad Carousel Forever!

Didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to
by Gabriel Heller Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
I really wanted to enjoy this show. Absurdist humor really is my cup of tea. Unfortunately, after a quite tight about first 15 minutes, the shows started to run out of steam, and it started to become clear the absurdism was clearly covering for a not very well thought-out script, and the run-on jokes and fourth wall slips were clearly just there to fill time and plot holes, and rather inexpertly at that. I get the feeling the script was finished at the last minute and to the determent of the actors and their performances which were just a little wooden. Douglas Adams Pommelhorse is not. Really good short films without endings they can make, good absurdist theater shows...not so much.

A gold-plated turd
by Scott Pakudaitis Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Damn this show was funny. A cast full of despicable characters played to their utmost by a strong, talented cast.

pour some white gravy on ....
by Jennifer Walker Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
This show might be funnier if you're a 'theater person', so I'll cop to that .. but overall we had a fantastic time. Super performers worked through what is admittedly an inconsistent script with flair; it does drag a little towards the end. Really enjoyable, though ... a great choice.

Bury me at...
by Jen Zalar Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I love meta, I love ridiculous, and I love the ribald. It's like this show was made just for me.

A fantastic show for anyone who meets the above (especially the ribald part) and can keep up with the changing pace.

my face hurts
by nanette Brewster Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Still laughing, if this is wrong, I don't want to be right! Each character stayed so much in character - sleezy,obnoxious,malleable,sweet,broken.
Insults were equal opportunity - no one should feel left out. I would reccomend this show to anyone with a sense of humor!

THE AIRPORT LOUNGE.
by Nick Decker Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Fourth-wall breaking meta-references that attack the Fringe are like sweet, sweet candy to me. This show placed me in a diabetic coma.

The plot is barely existent, but the laughs come in such a succession that it doesn’t even matter. “Carousel” tells the noir-esque tale of down-and-out insult comic Herschel Doucheberg. Sam Landman shines as a foul-mouthed racist/misogynist/misanthrope who somehow remains lovable.

Seriously, there’s no reason Doucheberg should still smell like roses (or rosewater cologne) by the dénouement. It’s Landman’s utter charisma that makes this a winning show. When the middle of the show begins to drag, it’s Doucheberg who keeps the show engaging.

Good crass fun!
by Bob Subiaga Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
It's about an insult comic--and it's a good lowbrow good time, with some nice twists about inside Fringe jokes and breaking the fourth wall.

Fantastically fun – go see it!
by Aaron Greer Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
In any other setting this show would be funny, but perhaps not the perfect fit it makes for a Fringe experience. Despite reports, not so much an offensive show, as a show about an offensive character played to hilarious comic effect in amazingly engaging performance by Sam Landman. And there’s that word that makes it for me: *engaging*; really, when you can be so extremely self-referential and wink at the audience to the point of . . . well, let’s just say to such an extreme degree . . . when you can do that and *not* take me out of your theatrical reality, that’s pretty skillful stuff. My only complaint is that, given the presentation in the round, some of the lines got lost for me (and they were funny dammit, so I wanted to hear ‘em all)! Fantastically fun – go see it!

Foul-mouthed funnymen
by Fringivitis Vulgaris Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
With appalling language delivered at machine-gun pace, they kick through the fourth wall and pee all over everything. It's clever at its best and it's rotten with dreadful stereotypes at its worst. Tech blunders and flubbed lines took away one kitty.

The Emperor Has No Clothes
by Billy Guy Follow this reviewer
Rating 1 kitty
I want to state this up front: I understood the show. I got what it was doing. None of it was above my head, either in story or style. I just didn't think it was any good.

Yes, I know that other people have enjoyed it. Some people have enjoyed the hell out of it. Mass enjoyment does not obligate me to agree.

This show is a huge mess, all over the map, with a scattershot metatheatricality that adds up to nothing. They threw everything they could think of at the wall in the hopes of something sticking. A lot is going on at all times, but there's no story here. Any one of the possible story threads, if actually pursued as the plot of the show, would have provided a fine structure on which to hang the jokes. (The nephew's talent usurping his uncle's, for example, would have been something we could follow, and they still could have had all the Tawny Kitaen jokes in the world.) But it rambles like crazy, the comedy is undisciplined, and it doesn't build to an experience of anything. These guys are funny, but there's nothing to hang onto. A frustrating experience.

Yes.
by Christopher Kehoe Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I loved this show. Not everyone did/will. But that's the point. The boldness of evoking the Tet Offensive, calling out Caucasian/Native American relations, and biting the Fringe hand the fed them is very, very much appreciated.

The perfect show to get Grandma hooked on Fringe.

dose of perspective
by Ryan Hill Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
You get all five pussies from me for provoking the widest gamot of responses.

(You get 3 kitties for that turd i saw on Monday night, but that's not my point...)

If you're not pop-culture savvy, you'll be lost. If you're easily offended, you'll be put off. If you're into watching dancing cats fly on tires, you'll be out of your league.

But, if you're into setting the parameters of your Fringe experience as wide as possible - you can't miss this show. Go see the cute, easy-as-pureed yam shows. Then see this.

It might not work all the time, but the fact that it's there is vital.

A hot mess
by Jayson Mills Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
I get that these guys might be generally funny. And I'm impossible to offend, so it wasn't the content. It just wasn't funny. It was unfocused, hard to follow, and the commercial interruptions were frankly dumb. These guys are good performers, but the material was too full of itself to let me in on the joke. I was disappointed- I expected to like it.

Pommelhorse Sticks To Their Guns
by Sid Solomon Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
Landman and Glover are two of the sharpest, funniest guys in town, and hopefully Pommelhore has a long, productive life.

While I felt myself lost on a few occasions trying to keep up with the plot, this show brings the funny in rare style. Unlike anything else you'll see in the Fringe.

Quite Possibly. Fave. Fringe. Show. EVAR
by Courtney McLean Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
This will be a most unhelpful review because it is late and I am buzzed, but this show just ruled. Landman: hilarious and oddly sexy. Glover: adorable. McDonald-Dorsey: who knew? Darling and thoroughly enjoyable. The dude who played the agent/Indian: WTF so good. The ska detective: meh, but he was a SKA DETECTIVE. I could have lived on the ska jokes alone.

SRSLY. LOVED. KTHXBAI

A Freakin' Travesty!
by Patrick Pfundstein Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
This show is an awful mess with crap hanging from a cheaply stitched plot like a big belly hanging over Sansabelt slacks. Carousel is an insult to your intelligence, and the humor is simply wrong in too many ways to name. And I'm going to burn in Hell for laughing my ass off through the whole thing! (At least the pie will be warm!)

Hilarious
by Missie Kittok Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
As I'm sure many others have and will say: don't see this show if you're easily offended. Otherwise, DO see this show, and be prepared to laugh your ass off. Everyone and everything is fair game, and it's all funny.

One of a Kind
by Melissa Beukema Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Sad Carousel struck me because it's so different from other Fringe offerings I've seen this year or in years past.

It's absurd and offensive in a clever and hilarious way.

I can't give 5 kitties because I had a hard time hearing all of the actor dialogue (the voice overs were fine).

A lot in one hour
by Alan Cloud Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Anyone remember "Firesign Theater"? If you enjoyed them, you'll get this show. You have to keep on your toes, though. This is fast-paced with flashbacks & flash forwards, voice over memories & thoughts, not to mention that it takes a swing at every race-culture-religion so that no one will feel left out. It's the kind of show you could see a 2nd time to catch what you missed the first time around. With so many optionsthe Fringe offers, that's unlikely to happen.

Nasty but fun
by David Schlosser Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
This is not the show I would bring my mother to, but I laughed and had a good time. It is over the top, witty, fast passed show, come one the show is about tow guys named Douscheburg the writers, director, cast, and crew do great job. If you are looking for a fun fringe show that is fast passed, witty and offensive in a good way I say come, if you are offended by two guys named Douscheburg then this is not your show.

Hit me in the right spot
by Phringing Geigs Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
It was everywhere, I was offended, delighted, and glad to have seen it.

lots of good elements, but...
by mark browning milner Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
i'm sorry this didn't work out better than it did. interesting (if obnoxious) characters and quirky (if sometimes incoherent) story, and i liked the meta-theatre use of the interior monologues. but in the end, i was disappointed. not bad, but not really that good, either.

Wonderfully Nasty
by Carolyn Elerding Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
I had fun watching this. Cool writing that made me laugh at things I would normally never find funny. Very interesting and versatile comic actors. Great theater and fringe jokes. I especially enjoyed the use of the space and of sound design.

There are no words...
by Jenna Papke Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Delightful. Confusing, but clarity is overrated anyway. Very much worth it.

The World According to Doucscheburg
by Chuck Beeson Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Herschel Douscheburg (Sam L. Landman) is probably the MVP of the Fringe Festival. His huge sarcastic comic energy—Don Rickles kicked up a notch—really sold me on this show when I first saw him at the Ritz Theater Fringe-For-All showcase. Being a middle-aged man with a pot-belly wearing a leisure suit (I’m all that minus the suit), I wasn’t sure how that would sell to a younger audience. When I saw young girls transfixed on this loud-ass, east-coast shit bag (excuse my French, that’s a small sample of his dialect) while he pranced around on stage and owned it, I was duly impressed. It was hot in the Rarig Arena, and even hotter as the show went on, the audience loving it. Characters were irreverent, broke the fourth wall with a bulldozer, and offended every race, creed and religion with fervor. Coco (Lindsay McDonald Dorsey) was buxom and cute like Betty Boop; Peter Ooley was an excellent asshole boss and Indian, and quiet Saul (Matthew Glover) a nice contrast to Herschel ; and still nice despite learning twice he’s going to die later in the play. This “turd” Mr. Landman refers to as this play he wrote and starred in, knocks it out of the park. There was a dead spot in it which prevented it from getting five kitties. But it’s the second best thing I’ve seen so far. My suggestion? Better get there early bucko, if you wanna get a seat.

scattered but fun
by vickijoan keck Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
This show was getting a lot of hype and I loved the preview so I was excited to see it. However, there were too many flashbacks and weird voiceovers and it lost me. Yes much of the audience was laughing, but half of them also appeared to be drunk - it was the 10 pm show after all. the acting was great and I can see why these folks are popular, but I was glad to see after talking to a few others outside the theater, it wasn't just me. Others found the "turd of a play" convoluted and confusing too.

Brilliantly Divisive
by Justin Alexander Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
It's interesting to discover that the debate which raged in the group I went to see the play with is being mirrored by the reviews on this page. Basically, half our group thought this show was hilariously funny. The other half was left asking, "What the hell did I just see?"

This kind of divisive response speaks to a show which is truly pushing the envelope: It is daring, experimental, and maybe even a little bit crazed. But if you're interested in seeing something that is truly unique; something that's really testing the boundaries of what's possible; something that's fresh and original and new... Well, you should roll the dice and give this show a try.

Because you could very easily end up loving it.

But if you find yourself among those asking, "What the hell did I just see?" Then here's my best stab at answering that question:

Take Dirty Harry and toss in a side dish of Magnum P.I. Slip in a healthy dose of The Entertainer and a side order of The Aristocrats. Now, take that amalgamated monstrosity and parody it through the comedic stylings of Naked Gun. Only it won't really feel like the Naked Gun movies because the comedic foundation is going to be taken from the tradition of insult comics instead of the zany goofiness of Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker.

And if you're still wondering why the plot doesn't make much sense upon close examination, then you're probably missing the point...

... which is to make you laugh as much and as hard as possible.

Which I did.

Delightfully Offensive
by Edwin Strout Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
Sam, Matt. Peter and Steve leave no one unscathed and insulted, like Mel Brooks in "Blazing Saddles," only more offensive. I had a delightful time. They unapologetically rip on everyone and everything, and include a bit of meta-theater calling attention to itself as a Fringe Festival show.

My only problem with the show was that the rapid fire dialogue often got missed if you were sitting on the wrong side of the theater in the round stage. So a bit more of clear enunciation would have helped, but it was alright, you got to hear the next politically incorrect joke throw out.

Bravo to all involved for daring to do such a show. I had a great time.

Hell Yes!
by Shanan Custer Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
There were moments in this show--crazy, wonderful, hand-over-your-mouth moments--where I would think "What the hell just happened?" I love that. I love that I've never seen a show like "A Sad Carousel" or performances like this cast delivers. I love that I actually saw people in the audience get these weird looks on their faces or cross their arms in defiance while the people next to them were rocking back and forth in joy. That's just about perfect, I think.

Give up the kitties!
by Tom Poole Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
This is bold, smart comedy that takes no prisoners. Or if it does take them, it sends them to another country where they can do whatever they want with them. There are a lot of great jokes that may not seem exactly like other jokes you've heard before, so bear with them. The characters are painfully original, and the actors inhabit them with courage and skilled abandon. To really appreciate Sam L.'s performance you should have also seen him in Blythe Spirit at The Jungle as a reserved and witty houseguest. He seems more possessed by Herschel than acting a part. Everybody else is great too, but Lindsey McDonald Dorsey really rocks as Coco. Go to this show, and don't mind if you don't get all the jokes, you'll get plenty of them.

Warning: This Show Will Insult You
by Nicole Devereaux Follow this reviewer
Rating 4 kitties
This show contains graphic language, insulting comedy, and self-defacing punchlines. It will surprise you. And it damn well better make you laugh.

I'm not a fan of comedy in general, but having a full house of people laughing uproariously convinced even me that this show was worth my time and then some. Sure, some of the gags go on a bit too long, and some of the gimmicks don't work like they should, but even there, the actors were able to laugh at themselves and make us laugh at the whole schtick.

Comedy is hard. Comedians easily fail. And these guys not only make it look easy, but they roll with the weaker moments and keep you wondering what will happen next.

Awesome Show!
by cory danks Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
A great show! I loved it. Very high energy, in your face insult comedy. Very clever mix of insult comedy, audio voices, and interesting characters. Very entertaining.

F***ing brilliant
by Derek Miller Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Hershcel Douscheburg is a miserable son of a bitch. He’s a caustic, lying, manipulative, angry bastard whose life work as a comedian is built on insulting and degrading just about everyone in the world. To top it off, the world’s “#7 insult comic” is sitting on a failing career, while his dipshit nephew is coming into a great one, has a bum knee and a bad back, and has a hired assassin with a flair for the dramatic hurling badly-aimed bullets at him. In short, he’s a sad sack of shit, and if you’re already offended by the number of curse words in this review, then you should definitely not see this show.

OK, now that the kids have left the room, let me share something with you: Sam Landman is absolutely fucking brilliant as Herschel. Somehow, despite the fact that he’s telling insensitive jokes about Stephen Hawking and Michael J. Fox and casually insulting just about every race on the planet, Landman’s performance makes you kind of like the guy. Well, not “like” in the way that you would want to share a pie with him, but “like” in that way that, even though he’s a completely reprehensible person, you find yourself rooting for him.

Herschel and his nebbish nephew Saul (played by the other half of Pommelhorse, Matthe Glover) are trying to figure out who is attempting to kill the old greasy bastard, but, really, plot is the least essential element in this play. Don’t get wrapped up in looking for it, because Pommelhorse is more interested in exploring and exploiting the absurdities of their characters and the dynamics of performing in front of a live audience. As an audience member you are in on the joke, you are above the joke, you are below the joke, and, oh yeah, you are frequently the butt of the joke.

This show is like watching a vulgar Monty Python sketch hopped up on coke and booze. If there is any weird, absurd trail the actors can go down, they will. I would like to say more, but I will just find myself listing a number of the brilliant bits that they threw at us. Leave the kids at home, throw back a couple shots of cheap hooch and go see this grotesque display, because nobody has a commitment to comedy like these guys.

Defeat Snatched from the Jaws of Victory
by August Berkshire Follow this reviewer
Rating 2 kitties
Too often disjoint and clunky. Hard to hear some lines due to mumbling, recording quality, speed of delivery, or facing away in the round theater space. The characters are far more funny than the script. Opening night was sold out, though, and a lot of people were laughing, so what do I know? Just as with the old saying that “the operation was a success but the patient died,” in this case the performance was a success but the comedy died. A 2.5 that I’ll round down to 2.

Kitty Kounter:
5 = Outstanding. Must see.
4 = Worth your time.
3 = Okay to fill a spot.
2 = Probably not.
1 = No.
0 = Avoid at all costs.

The Reviews Within the Reviews
by Josh Carson Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I'm breaking my "Never Review" policy to highlight a few sections of all the bad reviews:

* Many in the audience found it hilarious

* the audience we saw the show with seemed to love it

* the audience were laughing quite a lot

Yup.

Did we see the same show?
by James Rone Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
I should probably just write a review, rather than responding to other reviewers, but I'm shocked to read what's been written here so far. All I can assume is that the other people who were in the audience last night (those people who have been acknowledged to be "laughing quite a lot") haven't gotten out of bed yet.

Like the best progressive humor - you know, the stuff that will later be neutered and recycled for an episode of 2 and 1/2 Men - Pommelhorse have created something that is intentionally divisive. Some comedy provokes laughter through familiarity, and some comedy provokes laughter through surprise. If you prefer familiarity, this won't be your favorite show of the Fringe.

This isn't, however, shock humor. I hate shock humor: the underlying contempt for the audience, the lack of self-awareness, etc. These guys know what they're doing, and they give us credit to get it. Yeah, I laugh in disbelief when Herschel makes a crack about the developmentally disabled, but it's because the joke is so raw and unprovoked, there's no way the target could actually be the subject of the joke. By taking insult humor to its logical extreme, Pommelhorse have targeted comics who actually make their living by bringing out the worst in us. And that's just one of the satirical points of the show. Then there's the dumb stuff, the absurdity, and the stuff that's just plain fun.

Congratulations, Pommelhorse. You're funny in a way that I haven't seen before.

Ridiculous
by Ben Thietje Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
Um...zero kitties? So, they get no kudos for any of the work they did?

That's great. You're great.

Was the opening night house a bit biased? Of course. But there's a reason for that. Sam Landman and Co. are FUCKING FUNNY. They've earned that love because they know how to make people laugh and they've done it consistently for years. If you want a show that feels just like every other show you've ever seen in your life, maybe go see something at the Guthrie. Otherwise, this show is piles of offensive, disgusting fun; exactly what they advertised.

A sad number of reviews so far.
by Andrew Brynildson Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
The reviews for 'A Sad Carousel' that precede mine made me puke in my mouth a bit.
I have to admit that I am biased, though. I have had the good fortune to have seen Saul and Herschel grow into the characters that make comedic performances fun to watch again. Too often in these cities, comedy revolves around whatever was seen in an episode of The office or the most recent family guy. The Douschebergs are a refreshing change of pace!
Admittedly, they can be brash and in Herschel's own words: Ribald. But if you have any semblance of a sense of humor, you will appreciate what they bring to the Fringe this year. Something wonderful and different.

The supporting cast they have assembled should make any fringe producer jealous. Peter, Steve, and especially Lindsey rounded out the story perfectly.
And too often in reviews, the Stage Manager goes unmentioned. Shannon Rusten did a great job of calling the shots. I am sure with a cast like this it was like herding cats. Or maybe it was easy since everyone was so professional. Either way, good on you.
This will definitely be one of the top 10 shows in the festival. As a performer and longtime fringegoer, I hope they are number one. (And my own castmates might get angry with me for saying that).
The story helps introduce two fantastic characters into this vibrant theater scene. My only wish is that they could have gone longer than the 60 minute time limit. Thankfully, there is plenty of opportunity to see Pommelhorse outside of the fringe. Sam and Matthew, please bring us more!

To anyone who might be on the fence about seeing this show, it doesn't matter. they will sell your seat to someone else.

Best show in this wonderful festival.

thus ends my soapbox rant.

Go see it!

Painful
by John Skinner Follow this reviewer
Rating 0 kitties
I'm at a loss for words.

Give credit to the actors for their hard work onstage, but the script and direction did them no favors. 20 scenes in a 55-minute show? Characters miming "thoughts" as voiceovers say their lines? Actors marching from place to place to place with zero motivation for their characters to do so? Shticky gimmicks become tiresome very quickly, especially so when there's a wink-wink "Aren't we clever?" take on them.

While some of the audience were laughing quite a lot, I laughed exactly twice. I honestly can't recall a show as unfunny as this one in my last 10-15 years of theatergoing. The friends I came with agreed.

My Fringe Button Gets Me Discounts?
by Mark Long Follow this reviewer
Rating 5 kitties
High Karate is a bad cologne from the '70s people, laugh at it next time.

A Sad Experience
by Judith Martin Follow this reviewer
Rating 1 kitty
Perhaps I saw too many shows today, but as the last of the day this one left a sour taste. Many in the audience found it hilarious... I felt stranded in the Borscht Belt without a life preserver. There's a lot of energy and jokes flying everywhere, if that's your kind of theater. Maybe I was just worn down, but I'd find it hard to recommend.

mixed bag of tricks
by Amanda Sue Follow this reviewer
Rating 3 kitties
References to pop culture (past and present), Minnesota, advertising, etc.. resulted in too many cheap, kitschy jokes that took away from the show's momentum. Although it seemed they were trying to make fun of "over-referencing", this was a great example of why kitschy shows at the Fringe can be annoying. The jokes got in the way of the plot so much that we were confused as to what was actually happening.

The strength of this piece is definitely in the characters; some of the characters were highly developed and well-played. I especially loved the polar opposites of Herschel and Saul. Herschel is completely brash- Sam's performance shows complete commitment to his character. And Saul (Matthew) was perfectly understated as the voice of reason and was the only relatable character.

Consider giving this show a try- the audience we saw the show with seemed to love it, but we definitely had a more mixed opinion.