BOCA RATON, Fla. – “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” isn’t being broadcast nationally this Halloween season, but that didn’t stop Flip Schultz from referencing the Peanuts during Thursday’s show at the Biergarten.
In recent appearances Schultz debuted a bit where he compared flirting with the opposite sex in these COVID-19 times to having a conversation with the unintelligible teacher from the Peanuts cartoons.
On Thursday, that bit became his personal highlight of the night.
“This was maybe my fourth time ever telling it on stage and it killed,” Schultz said. “I was like, Wow.”
Schultz’s better-known bits worked as well.
His impressions of Ray Romano as the Wizard of Oz’s wicked witch and Al Pacino in a made-up sex scene from Scent of a Woman always elicit howls. Who Ha!
And Schultz’s explaining why there are no gay ghosts in horror movies killed as usual.
Schultz’s lone criticism of his set was a minor lapse when transitioning from one bit to another.
“To me that was my only real stumble,” Schultz said. “Otherwise it was a really fun set.”
APPLAUSE BREAK-DOWN
VENUE: Biergarten, Boca Raton (Oct. 29, 2020)
LINEUP:
David Sadman (Host)
Skippy Greene (Feature)
Chris Roe (Feature)
Flip Schultz (Headliner)
SHOW HIGHLIGHT: Those who weren’t paying attention probably didn’t notice that Skippy Greene is a character played by Schultz. In fact, some who were paying attention failed to make the connection. Schultz donned a fedora and blazer to play the cigar-smoking Greene, a has-been misogynist comic telling tales of vulgarity punctuated by shouting the names of cartoon characters. If that doesn’t make much sense, well, we’re trying not to give too much of the act away. While some in the crowd didn’t know quite what to make of the character, the first time experiencing a Skippy Greene show is always memorable.
BE OUR GUEST: The wheelchair-bound Roe wasted little time mocking his physical condition, freeing the audience to laugh along with him. Taking the stage immediately after Greene – not an easy act to follow – Roe’s set held its own. Sadman debuted some new material lamenting the COVID-induced shutdown of Halloween, and how that will limit soccer mom’s once-a-year ability to wear their sexy costume. Is that good or bad for suburbia?
WORKING THE ROOM: Greene mercilessly returned to one woman sitting in the front row for a series of vulgar knock-knock jokes that had the audience simultaneously roaring and cringing.
THE COMICS’ TABLE: Schultz made sure to include his bit about having a younger sibling get married before him because his brother was in the audience. “That was my little inside joke to him,” Schultz said. …To stay busy during the pandemic, Schultz launched 60 Second News, a look at some of the weird news of the day. It’s posted three times weekly on his social media. …Local comics Nadeem Awad and Steve Lamm joined the Biergarten crowd for the show.
QUOTE: “Tonight was an anomaly for me. Usually before my show I will write out my set list. Tonight I just went, OK, I know I have the material to cover the time. Let me kind of go up without knowing exactly what I want to do.” – Schultz
