Every year, I make a point to catch Greg Behrendt at least once while he’s in town for Sketchfest. This year, I thought the show Iron Comic sounded like fun. The premise is based on Iron Chef: five stand-up comics have about 8 minutes wherein each puts together a two-minute “set” based on topics chosen on the fly from audience suggestions, and after three rounds, judges narrow down the five to a final two who go head-to-head. Finally, a winner is chosen by audience applause. This all took place this past Saturday night at Cobb’s Comedy Club, and I think it’s safe to say a good time was had by all.
The evening began with the crowd being introduced to the show’s hosts, Moshe Kasher and Nato Green. Green greeted the crowd with a “shalom, Jews!” before adding, “Gentiles, you better fucking behave tonight!” As the audience was coming into the venue, ordering food & drink, and generally getting settled for the evening, there were provided slips of paper upon which guests could write in suggestions for the comics to use. At the start of the show, Green & Kasher went through handfuls of these, reading them aloud, making fun of many of them, and discarding ones they deemed unworthy for various reasons.
Competing for the title of Iron Comic in this event were the aforementioned Behrendt, Andy Kindler, Amy Miller, Jackie Kashian, and Dwayne Kennedy. Topics selected were (in order): “your last kiss,” trampolines, and “low budget bar mitvahs.” All the comics were pretty funny, some due to having prepared good bits, and some specifically because they failed to do so (and they know who they are). As comics were given time to write as each topic was chosen, the audience was entertained by Green, (Kasher’s wife) Natasha Leggero, Kasher, and Nore Davis, with whom I was not at all familiar, but who absolutely stole the show for me with bits about his brother’s transition from female-to-male. There was also the teensiest glimpe of W. Kamau Bell, who dropped by for a split second on stage.
Judges eventually narrowed down the five comics to two: Behrendt and Miller, who had to go toe-to-toe without any prep time at all in a sort of rapid-fire comedy challenge. Both were funny, and I admit my bias toward Behrendt with no apologies, but Miller was absolutely on fire and won the title for the evening without much dispute. I would see just about any of these comics again if given the opportunity, but I will be keeping an eye out for my next chance to catch Behrendt in any capacity. In addition, though, I’ll now be waiting for my next chance to see Kasher, Green, or Davis again whenever possible. Whether that will be Sketchfest 2020 or sooner, I guess we’ll have to wait and see…
