Review: An Uneven COMEDY TONIGHT Presenting 'Broadway's Funniest Clowns' Offers Both Chuckles and Vocal Pratfalls at Feinstein's/54 Below

Hosted by famously deadpan Julie Halston (You Can't Take It With You), the mélange of actors presented in Monday night's comedy show at Feinstein's/54 Below drove home the fact that humor is simply not universal. Additionally, lack of continuity made it seem as if artists chose material no one reviewed.

We saw light musical theater turns by skilled performers, heard songs that fell flat for lack of judgment (a mean spirited, cliché song about Jews), and were subject to the unfunny vaudeville of Kristine Zbornik eating a bag of tortilla chips while kind of singing "Good Morning Heartache." (The mini dress showed more than was polite.) Ouch.

Skilled numbers included: Kevin Chamberlain's "Going Down" (Bryan Blaskie), a clever skit/song about a passenger's in flight plane panic. I'm a person and we're not supposed to fly! Long, one-breath lyric lines become increasingly agitated as the passenger tries to talk himself calm. Chamberlain was not just funny, but authentic (The actor is about to open in Broadway's Disaster!).

Fresh from Dames at Sea, John Bolton gave us a buoyant "Mention My Name in Sheboygan" (Bob Hillard/Dick Sanford/Sammy Mysels), replete with genial dance moves. Clipped enunciation and jaunty, unhammed-up tone were right on target. Brad Oscar, currently wonderful in Something Rotten, curiously delivered "When Yuba Plays the Rhumba on the Tuba" (Herman Hupsell) as angry. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, one might assume the character was jealous of Yuba's success.

The multifaceted Jason Graae (of such as Falsettos and Grand Night for Singing) arrived in a Silence of the Lambs mask to sing "Slasher on Broadway" (M. Cherry/J. Glaudini). The song, about a killer with alternate aspirations, parodied familiar numbers: Got my blow torch/Set on low scorch . . . If ever I would cleave you . . . I killed the son in the morning and the mom at night . . . Were Graae a lesser showman, this might've been no more than a raised brow. Always a pleasure to watch (and hear), however, the performer made it work.

Halston presented a monologue ostensibly/ conceivably read from Elle Magazine called "How Hollywood's Favorite Juice Bar Owner Eats Every Day." Absurd in its religious adherence to nonsense-sounding health products, I found this a long stretch to humor. It didn't help that punctuating facial expressions showed our side of the house only the back of Halston's head. I should admit there was laughter in the audience.

Other Performers: Christina Bianco, Eddie Cooper, and Anne L. Nathan. Director Evan Pappas. Music Direction/Piano by Jeffrey Lodan fit each performer like a glove.

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