Review: JON BENNETT: AMERICAN'T Is a Triumph at the TAMPA FRINGE FESTIVAL

Storyteller and Aussie comedian Jon Bennett is exceedingly honest, or as honest as a storyteller can be. At the top of his brilliant new show, JON BENNETT: AMERICAN'T, he admits the following: "The show might be a bit shit as I re-wrote most of it today." He also promises, in an inside joke with the audience, that there will be no mayonnaise enemas (like a show he saw at the Winnipeg festival that included, yes, actual mayonnaise enemas and their after effects a whopping four times in one show).

At the 7th Annual Tampa Fringe, Jon Bennett's latest is a one-man triumph. Hilarious and heartbreaking, laugh-out-loud funny as well sullen at times, both unconditionally ribald and full of heart, it's what we always ask for when coming to a Fringe show. In some ways, Mr. Bennett, who has performed in well over a hundred festivals so far, exemplifies what the Fringe is all about: Anything goes (except maybe mayonnaise enemas).

Although diminutive in real life, Mr. Bennett towers onstage. He's a fast talker, probably most famous or infamous for his previous Fringe shows, like "Pretending Things Are a Cock" that on some website currently and appropriately has a 69% rating.

He tells his story armed only with a clicker to a particular funny slideshow. "I get called JonBenet all the time," he says, referring to the little girl of the 1990s, whose murder is still unsolved. (This is true; while standing in line for tickets and passes beforehand, I overheard the person in front of me refer to him as "JonBenet" instead of "John Bennett.")

AMERICAN'T starts off as a masterful comic routine, where our storyteller gets a One Night Stand in the pre-pandemic days and he and the girl, Gina, get to play naughty games like "Which Come Is Cum?" When the pandemic ultimately hits, he finds himself confined, trapped and stranded in Oregon with this same (tall) woman, who is now more than just a One Night Stand. He (and, now, we) learn a lot about Gina, such as she likes three-pronged forks; soup; saying "Not necess-celery"; and to trip on magic mushrooms while watching Stranger Things over and over again as well as The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

When he finally gets to return to his family in Snowtown months later, Australia, known as having the strictest covid laws in the world, was in the midst of 262 days of lockdown. And while there, Mr. Bennett also learned that he was #1 on a list-but not a list you want to be on at all: He is deemed as having the top Unessential Job, being an artist. He contemplates suicide, misses Gina, and gratefully gets therapy.

Mr. Bennett comes back to the states, and things have become hostile at best. He offers lists of things he likes about America (the movies, like Road House and RoboCop, and of course the people) and doesn't like (the healthcare system, guns, etc.) But JON BENNETT: AMERICAN'T has been a red herring this whole time. What was originally a funny-sad pandemic tale turns out to actually be a love story, a love letter that was simply disguised as a pandemic rant. And the love showcased at the center is one of the sweetest, most heartfelt you'll experience in a long time. You can probably guess where his story eventually leads, and maybe the ending felt a bit rushed for me, but his JON BENNETT: AMERICAN'T had the audience leaving their seats at the end with smiles on each of their faces.

Mr. Bennett's delivery is spot on, with perfect timing. He is a masterful storyteller who is able to boldly share his ups and downs, the moments of laughing until you cry and the moments of just crying. His patter softens, even when describing his family and the odd, perhaps alarming first words of his father's upon his return to the Outback, all told with so much heart and love and honesty. It's a show guaranteed to make you laugh often and smile even more. It's for adults 18+, so obviously don't bring the kiddos, because it's a hard-R affair and proudly so. (The slideshow has some of the funniest, raunchiest bits you can imagine.)

The audience obviously connected with our storyteller, and it made the experience that much more powerful and emotionally satisfying. But that's part of Mr. Bennett's magic word play; he plays us like a fiddle and I enjoyed the hell out of every minute of it.

JON BENNETT: AMERICAN'T has everything you want in a Fringe show, except of course for mayonnaise enemas.

JON BENNETT: AMERICAN'T plays at the intimate HCC Coop Saturday, May 13th at 4:30 PM and Sunday, May 14th at 6:30 PM.

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