Self-Help Shelf

Awkward Cheese Co.—Onstage at Pantages

If I’m honest I couldn’t tell whether this show was attempting to break down millennial stereotypes or reinforce them. It seemed to lean into the former towards the end, and then jerked itself back right quick. It was funny more often than it wasn’t, and very nearly got to touching, but I find the performer is much stronger physically than anything else. Those segments were wonderful. The use of stereotypical millennial language quickly became forced and unfunny, and speaking as a millennial I would be hard pressed to find anyone in my immediate circle who speaks like that with any form of consistency. Perhaps it was satire and I didn’t get the message, perhaps it wasn’t and played completely for comedic effect, either way I came out feeling mixed emotions, slightly more negative than positive. It ran 15 minutes shorter than it’s advertised 60, something to take into account when planning.

Arden Pruden