AltCom Festival kills on Friday
The Sommerville News – May 13th, 2009

By Jim Clark
An exuberant and appreciative audience was in attendance as the 2nd Alternative Comedy Festival (AltCom) took the stage at the Somerville Theater last Friday night. The group of young stand-up artists struck responsive chords with the crowd and offered timely, topical observations of modern life and absurdist takes on the socio-political issues of the day.

The evening's hosts, Myq Kaplan and Micah Sherman, set the tone in their trademark musical fashion presenting the hilarious 'Comedians National Anthem' as an appropriate opener to the night's festivities. The duo offered several witty and often raw, adult-themed songs throughout the show as they introduced each performer in turn.

 New York based Leo Allen, a Comedy Central staple performer and one time Saturday Night Live writer, charmed the crowd with bits ranging from religion and veganism ("If vegetables could talk we'd freak...out") to his experiences working at Dunkin' Donuts in Medford so many years ago. His shrewd observations are reminiscent of the late George Carlin's unique style of reinterpreting the mundane facts of life and presenting them as quirky gems of skewed logic.   
Jamie Kilstein's set continued the established tone, exploring such divergent topics as homophobia, soul mates, the absurdity of Wii athletics, and racism ("Crime doesn't happen because of race, crime happens because of class. Poor people commit crimes. I've never been accosted by a group of wealthy black stockbrokers from Wall Street"). An outspoken atheist, the Midwest native often mixes calculated barbs against what he considers to be contradictory tenants of religious dogma with personal experiences in surviving in a largely faith-based society.

The event's headliner, actress/comedienne and often controversial political commentator Janeane Garofalo capped the show with her unique blend of manic energy and self-deprecating satire. Though diminutive in stature, the 5'-1" ball of fire commanded the stage and took charge of the venue amid riotous cheers from the wildly enthusiastic audience. Though seemingly unscripted and off-the-cuff, she nonetheless kept the crowd riveted to her every word as she described various woes and misadventures of her personal life and examined many of the social and political topics that concern her with the self-confidence of a flame-throwing storm trooper.

Amid rumors that protesters would be on hand for the show, Garofalo reported only one confrontation while patronizing the local Starbucks, wherein she was confronted by someone demanding that she apologize to Bill O'Reilly, the popular right-leaning FOX News pundit, for comments that she had made about him. This prompted her to take scissors to her hair to fashion a quick mullet for the evening, which would serve as a disguise for the duration of her visit to the area. Other than this, no protests were observed at the event.

Despite her past and current activism, Garofalo's performance was largely apolitical, focusing more on her personal life and trials, poking fun at herself more often than anyone else ("Take it from a narcissist, I hate myself"). From a disastrous journey to Australia, through various aches and pains ("Life is too long not to try anti-depressants") and disbelief of aging ("How is it technically possible to be born in 1992?"), to rapier tipped slashes at show business icons ("TV has the best looking forensics experts"), the stream-of-consciousness-like delivery poured forth with hardly a perceptible breath between words.

Whatever one's politics, Garofalo is eminently likeable and a true master monologist. Leaving the audience wanting for more is any performer's best accomplishment. She nailed this one, and, as she said in referencing her battles against alcoholism, "It's awesome until it isn't." For her fans it was awesome.