Humans, by nature, hunger for something greater than themselves, and Patricia Skylar Van Humphries has provided that something with her intensely elite talk show, Pretentious Conversations. Featuring dialogues with the most important meaning-makers of our time, Pretentious Conversations unpacks the suitcase of complexity behind the people behind the art, politics, and ideas that matter today. And who decides what matters today? Why, Patricia Skylar Van Humphries, of course. In fact, many of our current intellectualebrities were virtually unknown before they appeared on Pretentious Conversations. Now a lot of them are millionaires, and have moved to Switzerland and Bermuda. Still.

This show may not be for everyone, but it is for people who are smart, thoughtful, caring, intellectual, compassionate, literate, kind, patient, attractive, vegetarian, vegan, enjoy serious foreign films, or are concerned in general about important things.  If you like explosions and cockfights and semi-nude women standing in front of muscle cars, this may not be the show for you. For the rest of you, welcome, and we look forward to seeing you sitting quietly in the audience and listening with integrity. 

Our Artists

Michigan Grey is an emerging voice whose fearless memoirs explore the emotional underbelly of our nation’s youth consciousness. She has been named as one of the “Top 15 Under 15” by New York Magazine, and was included on the “Hot Thinkers To Watch 2013” list, recently released by National Geographic magazine. With a five-book contract from Pigeonhole Press, and a few years yet until she hits puberty, we can all look forward to hearing from Grey again and again in the future.

Chuck is an alternative electronic music pioneer and social activist at large. While Chuck is well known for his four-hour improvisational concerts of the late nineties, he has of late been experimenting with short bursts of written music. Chuck’s rapid, unexpected rise to fame, however, coupled with his soft spoken intellect and vague air of condescension, have earned him the title of “most hated man in music.” Love him or hate him (and his many non-profit organizations), but the power of Chuck is not to be dismissed.

Patricia Skylar Van Humphries is a public intellectual with a gift for listening to the silences between words. Her award-winning show, “Pretentious Conversations,” airs weekly on the publicly-funded Enlightenment Network, thanks to contributions from sophisticated viewers such as yourself. Patricia lives in Lower Manhattan with her second husband, Richard, and their adopted Vietnamese daughter, Ji Lu, who plays the violin. Patricia is gluten intolerant.

Cast + crew

Laura Buchholz
Role: Writer/Patricia Skylar Van Humphries

Laura Buchholz is a writer whose other works include "Jen & Angie" (2009 New York International Fringe Festival) and "I'm Totally President" (2011 Minnesota Fringe Festival).  She also wrote and performed in "Saturday Night Rewritten," a weekly sketch show than ran from 2003-2006 in New York City. 

Nick Sahli
Role: Nick Spahn
This is Nick Sahli’s second show with Laura - he appeared in 2011’s "I’m Totally President." Nick is currently performing at the Brave New Workshop Student Union's Friday Night Cage Match! Nick is a professional visual artist of many trades under the pen-name "Rossi." You can see his work at www.thatrossiart.com. He is a proud St. Olaf College graduate.

Mahmoud Hakima
Role: Chuck

Mahmoud is quite thrilled to be involved in the Fringe for the eighth time in his life. Previous shows have included "Can Michael Come Out and Play?", "Hamluke" and "Uncle Tom's Condo," as well as writing for "The 612." Once Fringe is over, he'll be performing at Yes And Food, an improv dinner theatre up in Coon Rapids. (You can Google it! Google "Yes And Food!") This year you can also catch him playing a spastic, childlike character in Hans the Obscure, also at The Brave New Workshop Student Union. Many thanks to Laura and Naomi!!

Carolyn Blomberg
Role: Michigan Grey

Carolyn Blomberg was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She still lives there. Mostly because her family is there but also because she's mildly agoraphobic. She started doing stand up comedy in 2006 at ACME Comedy Co.'s open mic night and continued to perform around the Twin Cities for 2 years. Then she quit comedy altogether to become a Paramedic in Denver. Now she's back in Minneapolis doing more comedy than ever. Carolyn has studied sketch writing and improv at Dudley Rigg's Brave New Workshop as well as HUGE Improv Theater in Minneapolis. She was a semi-finalist in ACME Comedy Co.'s Funniest Person in the Twin Cities in 2007 and 2011. According to ACME Comedy Co., Carolyn’s "creative writing and strong inner voice make this comedian one to watch." According to Carolyn's mom, Carolyn "wants to do what with her life? [pause] How's that gonna work?"

Lori Crever
Role: Connie Grey

Lori Crever is a naïve native Minnesotan who voluntarily spent time in New York City. After a range of missed opportunities in music, theater and the pre-Occupy Movement, Lori returned to the Twin Cities. She works in corporate communications and is a graduate of the Brave New Workshop Student Union, where she performed for five years in Six Ring Circus.  As host of the cable TV program "30 Minutes with the Author," Lori interviews people who write books. Someone once asked her, “Do you only talk to authors that are living?” Lori responded, “Are there any other types?”

Momoko Tanno
Role: Tatiana Fiona


Soprano Momoko Tanno has received numerous accolades for her performances in productions created by Tony Award-winning Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Momoko was called “A dynamo who beautifully pours out passion and fire onstage” in a feature article by Rohan Preston, Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN.

A versatile performer, Momoko Tanno was born in Tokyo, and has lived in Brazil, USA, and France. She received her B.A. in Vocal Performance at Nihon University in Tokyo, earned her M. M. in Vocal Performance at University of Minnesota, and she continued her studies in Paris, France. She has performed with theaters such as the Guthrie, American Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, Park Square Theater, Mu Performing Arts, and Nautilus Music-Theater. She is also at home with popular songs, singing in concerts such as “From the Shtetl to Broadway” featuring songs by composers such as Gershwin, Berlin, Bacharach, and Porter. Momoko is a voice faculty at MacPhail Center for Music.

John Haynes
Role: Director


John Haynes is an actor, writer, and director in the Twin Cities. He was part of the Brave New Workshop Comedy Theater as a writer and actor, and for six years was the Director of their training center, The Brave New Institute. In addition, John has been on stage with Mystery Café Comedy Dinner Theater, Stevie Ray’s Improv, and The Actors Theater of Minnesota. John has also taken his improv skills to the stages of many comedy festivals nationally.

John is currently one of the artistic directors at The Actors Theater of Minnesota and has directed several shows, including "Bye Bye Liver The Twin Cities Drinking Play," "Flanagan’s Wake," "Guys on Ice," and "Bob’s Holiday Office Party." He also is the director of their training center, The Creative Institute. John works as a talent agent for the Non Union Talent Service, also known as NUTS, and is in charge of new talent development.

John has taken his training and skills into corporate America through using theater/improv techniques to train employees to be more creative and innovative.

Naomi Beck
Role: Stage Manager
Naomi Beck stage-managed "I’m Totally President" for the 2011 MN Fringe Festival and has spent the last several years helping out with her friends’ various theater projects. When not working with actors, she spends her time with church ladies as the organist and handbell director at Redemption Lutheran Church. Naomi is the co-creator of "Pageant Girls," the only Fringe show to be critically panned without ever actually being written.

Write a review

You will be able to write a review for this show during the festival.

User reviews

Substantive and Smart
by Mark Mikula
Rating 4 stars
I really enjoyed the premise of this show and felt like it carried through on its promise throughout. It was very smart, and the performance I saw featured the best singing voice of anyone I saw (or heard) in the Fringe. All of the players were committed to their points of view. It was great to see some performers who were new to me who owned their roles. I also thought the moderator of the talk show effectively inhabited her character. I'm taking away a star because I felt like it could have sustained a fourth guest slot with each of the segments being a little shorter. I wanted even another pretentious guest!

What the heck did I just see?
by Cato Brutus
Rating 3 stars
An uneven comedy. I enjoyed the first half, as the central conceit of the show started to grate on me. Mahmoud as "Chuck" was a real highlight.

Disappointing
by Publius McGee
Rating 3 stars
This show was unfortunately uneven, leading to the overall 3 stars. Chuck, Nick, and Patricia were phenomenal. Mahmoud's improv music was the highlight of my night, Nick's long-suffering personality was spot on, and Patricia's portrayal of the host was public radio to a T. The child author was underwhelming, and the overbearing stage mother wasn't overbearing enough (how weird to say). Strong opening, good closing, weak, mushy middle.

Submitted on Moleskine Parchment
by Emily Schmidt
Rating 5 stars
Fun characters, witty and clever writing, all with a point...this is my kind of show. I would love to see more episodes. There is a never-ending supply of pretentiousness to be mocked!

Saved by a Stellar First Half
by Ryan Sanderson
Rating 4 stars
Prentious Conversations starts off strongly and then loses steam during its second interview segment. It's more or less a Saturday Night Live sketch idea stretched to an hour's length and it shows. When the interview subject is a Kanye West-like musician dressed as a carrot (a role Mahmoud Hakima cranks out of the park) then every moment is delightfully surprising. And the awkward back and forth between the self-absorbed host and her insecure produced are all great too. But the second half with the child author and her grating mother (both well-acted but repetitive and drawn out) pales by comparison. Still worth it for the improvised musical numbers alone.

All too accurate
by Howard Kamil
Rating 4 stars
Hilarious. Because I think i've met these people. I know that building. (I know, no spoilers...but they don't like me, I'm a Cake Pops kind of guy). I had a little different reaction than some of the other reviewers, in that I thought the first bit was the better of the two. A touch forced in a couple places, maybe, as a couple other reviewers said, a touch too long here and there, but just perfect in others. Laura Buchholz was just perfect. Try to watch her even when others are the focal point, her reactions and physicality are just marvelous. Mahmoud Hakima was very entertaining. Go and see this one.

Well written and fun!
by Joel Tweeten
Rating 5 stars
I enjoyed watching my wife's reactions. The laughs were well set up against awkward conversations. The first bit left us restless, but Carolyn Blomberg and Lori Crever were very clever and brought the audience back. The parody at the end was delightful!

Unpretentious Fun
by Colin Nelson
Rating 4 stars
Saw this funny play last week--it's good and everyone in the play, except for the assistant, is pretentious! So, he provides a great contrast to all the others. Lori Crever stole the show, but I can't tell you about her "big act!" The nine-year old girl who wrote her memoir was hilarious and...pretentious. Only criticism was that the musician's playing and the young girl's reading went on too often. Once would have been enough and actually had more effect than multiple times. Go see it!!

Where Egos Dare
by Eric Peter DeWolff
Rating 4 stars
One not-so-secret tidbit about the ego-inflated? That they are terrible people! Poking fun at those types and their talk shows, this show extends an invitation to join the fun. "Chuck" made a nice save on the keyboards' attempt to self-destuct. Everyone was able to shine in this sometimes quirky romp.

GOL!
by Becky Kapell
Rating 5 stars
Spot on wit! Very entertaining performances especially by Lori Crever and Carolyn Blomberg as a helicopter mother and a precocious child author. I guffawed out loud!

Crafted Script
by Larry Ripp
Rating 4 stars
This play was written by a professional comedy writer and it shows. The very witty and polished script really tickled my funny bone. However there were a couple of line mishaps here and there and the "Host" who also wrote the show is a better writer than performer. Her character was not quite there. The first part of the show went on just about 5 minutes too long as I looked at my watch and sure enough, 5 minutes later they moved on. That said, this is very lighthearted entertainment and I WAS entertained. You will be too. The Fringe is not New York nor should it be. A little flawed but A LOT of fun as well. You won't be sorry if you see this show.

Finishes stronger than it starts
by Matilda ZombieQueen
Rating 3 stars
There are elements of an SNL sketch that overstays its welcome in this, but the second half pulls things out of the fire to some degree. Lots of potential, but not always capitalized on.

Letting the cat out of the bag
by Michael Krefting
Rating 5 stars
As the first reviewer, I feel it is my duty to tell you to see this show. I had a front row seat for the fun. This show brings you the most pretentious conversations you'd ever imagine. Totally live up to its name.