By Marie Pfeifer
Steven Wright’s deadpan delivery of surreal one-liners and observations of life’s nonsensical situations had the audience at the Mayo Performing Arts Center laughing hard on Thursday.
Sample:
“I saw a sign at a gas station. It said ‘help wanted.’ There was another sign below it that said ‘self service.’ So I hired myself. Then I made myself the boss. I gave myself a raise. I paid myself. Then I quit.”
After graduation from Emerson College, Wright began performing stand-up comedy in 1979 at the Comedy Connection in Boston. In a one-shot appearance on The Tonight Show, host Johnny Carson and the studio audience were so impressed that Carson brought him back a week later.
Those appearances on The Tonight Show launched his 30-plus year career as a stand-up comic, author, actor and film-maker. In 1988, his short film, The Appointments of Dennis Jennings, won an Academy Award for best short film, live-action.
What won over the Carson audience was his wry, sleepy style. When Wright stares down, puts his hand over his forehead and mumbles, you can expect wacky one-liners like: “I bought some powdered water but I didn’t know what else to add.”
And:
“I have a map of the United States – it’s actual size. It says 1 mile = 1 mile. People ask me where I live, I say E5.”
And this:
“I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died.”
The audience erupted in a cacophony of cheers and laughter. Those are the lines we can print here.
Early in Wright’s routine he introduced a bit about a cop whose main theme was to tell him to sit the “*&@#$ down!”
That sort of humor was interspersed throughout the monologue. Toward the end of Wright’s routine it seemed like he ran low on material and needed the profanity to get through it. A few people walked out, though it wasn’t clear if they just were ready to go home or if they objected to the string of expletives.
Wright’s credits include numerous appearances as a film and TV actor with a recurring role in the 1992 television sitcom, Mad About You. He supplied the voice of the radio DJ in Quentin Tarantino’s film Reservoir Dogs that year.
Little known about Wright is his prowess in the musical arena, where he has recorded several non-comedy songs with his friend and occasional actor, Mark Wuerthner. Wright did treat the audience to an original number, The Kitten Song: “Kitten’s trying to kill me/ Guess I’ll have to kill him first.”
He also has an interest in painting.
Emmy Award winner Kevin Meaney opened for Wright with his inspired blend of lunacy drawing upon his early family relationships. A popular standup comedian for more than 25 years, he captivated Thursday’s audience with his good-natured mirth… when he could remember whether he was delivering his monologue in Morris Plains or Morristown.
Meaney made his debut appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1987. He was a special guest on Saturday Night Live and has appeared on Letterman, Regis, Oprah and Conan. Meaney starred in the CBS sitcom, Uncle Buck, for a full season.
He also had a featured role in the Tom Hanks movie Big. In the 2006 Broadway production of Hairspray, he played five roles – Mr. Pinky, Harriman F. Spritzer, The Principal, The Cop and the Flasher. Not the least of his accomplishments is his autobiographical one-man play, Wedding Vows in Vegas, which premiered at the prestigious U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo.
