Another Very Serious Night with Barney Morin

River Road Productions—The Studio at Le Théâtre Cercle Molière

A variety-type show with some hits and some misses. There are some people out there who laugh at everything; I wonder if they’re generally entertained or if they just have a natural propensity to laugh, even if they don’t find funny? As a comedian, those are the people you want in your audience. Their laughs alone cause infection infiltration to the remainder of the audience and suddenly, you feel obligated to laugh, even if you don’t find it funny. There were a lot of laughers in the audience tonight, which impelled and propelled the merriment. I found some of the material genuinely comical but some were just mildly amusing. Still, I laughed.

As far as the singing goes, well—when your singing make Neil Young and Bob Dylan sound like their have voices of angels, you shouldn’t rely on that aspect of your show too much.

Finally, Morin, here is some good advice that’s going to save you some grief and possibly a lawsuit: when you run your skit on the oldest person in the audience—you should look at the person. The lady with the white hair that you targeted today? You should probably leave her alone, especially when she waved you off twice. A guy like me with a shaved head and some white in the beard? That look means I’m comfortable with their age, and I was ready to put my hand up as oldest in the crowd. The person with the comb-over? Leave them alone! Calling on people is sometimes fun but I don’t think you should call on people for age, especially when they already indicated they do not want to be. Pick me instead Monte—I can take it.

Ray Yuen