THEATRE REVIEW: “Hold Me Closer, Tiny Groundling”

Three men come through the door. They climb into their pit stage left and begin to jam. Rock music sets the pulse for a night of high-energy, heavy-hitting comedy. Then, the band transitions to a sugary rendition of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” What’s happening? A woman enters the stage and begins to dance with a 12-inch-tall Ken doll. No, really ““ what’s happening?

Moments of shocking silliness like this creep up on you unexpectedly in the Groundlings’ newest revue, “Hold Me Closer, Tiny Groundling.” Playing weekends at their 30-year-old theater on Melrose Avenue, the show is a mash-up of sketch and improvisational comedy. The revue focuses on the cast’s nostalgia for one of their former cast mates ““ the tiny groundling ““ who measured a stout 5 inches in height. After an opening night failure some time ago, he simply disappeared, never to be seen again. “Hold me Closer, Tiny Groundling” is a tribute to him and his comedic genius.

The majority of the show is sketch comedy, broken up intermittently with improv games, rock music as the stage crew sets up the next scene and monologues that reminisce of the tiny groundling.

The sketches are hit-and-miss. There are about 12 in total and each elicits laughs from the audience, but few are so hysterical as to merit real praise. Each sketch knows where its laughs are, yet so few are able to maintain the same level of comic intensity throughout the entire scene. A few noteworthy acts were the club for men with women’s names and a scene about a forgetful college professor’s meeting with his grad students.

At least the Groundlings try to be inventive and diverse with their sketches. By placing their goofy brand of humor in various settings ““ a wedding, a middle school assembly and a coffee shop ““ they avoid falling into routines and conventional formulas.

The Groundlings thrive on inventiveness and spontaneity. The improv games they played ““ only three during the whole show ““ were by far the highlight of the evening. The cast has a great energy together and even if every joke does not land its punch line every time, the Groundlings’ confidence makes up for it and the audience buys into it.

The musicians kept the show’s energy up, never letting an unnecessary silent moment go by quietly. As soon as each sketch was over, the band picked up the pulse and drove the show forward until the next bit. And beyond being the revue’s almost unnoticed life force, they were talented performers who were a part of the show and not just the guys who jammed between sketches.

Occasional monologues brought the show’s focus back on the tiny groundling. These were only moderately funny and helped the audience remember that there was some sort of narrative frame to “Hold Me Closer, Tiny Groundling.” However, nothing else in the show consistently fit into this framework, posing the question, “Why have a central theme or story if it does not present itself throughout the entire performance?” Talking of the sprite-like groundling was essentially pointless.

Only one of the monologues, that of Timothy Brennen, was actually worth remembering for a line about a wooden horse’s excrements that unfortunately cannot be reprinted in this newspaper. Brennen, the show’s standout performer, also played in two of the three improv games and starred by himself in the night’s best sketch ““ a seminar on how to write your own children’s book.

The Groundlings have quite a reputation in the sketch and improvisational comedy world as many of the group’s alumni have gone onto shows like Saturday Night Live and MADtv. “Hold Me Closer, Tiny Groundling” lives up to this reputation of excellence, but just barely.

They are talented performers, but the inconsistency of the comedy makes this show come up short, and not just because of the tiny groundling.

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