So that was nice to have your CapCity set reviewed in today’s Statesman
– Yeah, except I was described as a red-headed pixie.
He said your set ?augured well? for the rest of the show, that?s quite a compliment.
– Yeah, but he described me a red-headed pixie.
He said you ?jested? and ?joked? in your set. Those are good words for a comic aren’t they?
– Yeah, but …. red-head? Really?
?Oh hush silly egotist’, Gallant quipped to herself. And with an impish grin she climbed back onto her toadstool and blew magic dust from her upturned nose all across the stage.
A genuine thank you to Michael Barnes for coming to see the show and for helping promote live local comedy.
Continue for the Austin American Statesman review
Jan 13, 2005. COMEDY
CAP CITY COMICS KICK THE HABIT
Good riddance. It appears illegal drugs have fallen into disfavor as a standard subject matter for stand-up comedians in Austin. At least that was the case during Friday’s smoke-free show at Cap City Comedy Club. Sex, some of it delightfully ribald, retained its age-old popularity. Despite the glut of sexual material on television, in movies and on the Internet, a skillful comedian can still make sex sound naughty, especially on a live stage (which adds another layer of potential scandal to the listener).
London-to-Austin comedian Maggie Gallant, acting as host, jested about American responses to her accent and to British ideas of sex. In fact, a good chunk of the red-headed pixie’s material had to do with her British background: “I didn’t have any teeth when I moved here,” she joked. Although still rough around the edges, Gallant’s short set augured well.
Sweet and salty Mario DiGiorgio, after a stint in the New York market, has returned to live in Austin, while touring regularly around the country. DiGiorgio calmed the audience with his plangent voice and charismatic smile. He picks small cultural nits: laptops in coffee shops; women who call attention to their breasts, then complain when men notice; lousy fashion terms, building a hilarious routine on the dubious denomination “wifebeater.” He even won laughs from futons: “Nothing says sexy like scoliosis.” One irritating issue: He calls too much attention to audience reactions in his segues.
Headliner Ron Morey was a bundle of energy, adept at odd voices, acting skills and miming (it would be hard to forget his cigarette smoker lighting up in a tornado). His subject matter delved into bitter designated drivers, Velcro wallets, suicide bombers, tattoos and the elderly on drugs. But he elicited shrieks of pleasurable shock from the audience ? especially women ? with his descriptions of successful sex as a “skinny, dorky man.”
Seems sex survives well enough in comedy clubs.
(Todd Glass headlines with Jim McCue and Daniel Jackson this week at Cap City Comedy Club, 8120 Research Blvd., 467-2333, capcitycomedy.com.)
? Michael Barnes