BOCA RATON – Carl Rimi encountered an unexpected challenge prior to taking the stage on Thursday at Boca Raton’s Biergarten.
The night’s headliner, Rimi climbed the steps moments after Jimmy Shubert completed an impromptu, rapid-fire guest spot that had the crowd howling.
“You’ve got to come out and match his energy, then I can calm it down for a second, just bring it back to my pace,” Rimi said. “I’m high energy too, but he’s like, meth.”
Rimi met the challenge with ease, providing a blistering set of his own that mixed new bits with some of his more familiar routines – adding plenty of crowd work along the way.
Juggling projects and overcoming obstacles has become routine for Rimi.
In a few weeks he’ll be shooting “iPossessed,” a movie he wrote, stars in, is co-producing and co-directing.
The movie, which Rimi calls a “horror/psychological thriller” features a dozen characters and is set in a ranch house.
“People stay the night and their demons start to come out, their secrets start to come out, and sh*t just goes crazy,” Rimi said.
Like many other comics, Rimi admits that the lack of regular stand-up work resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions made him feel a little rusty on stage – though spotting the rust Thursday proved difficult.
Rimi is interested to see whether that feeling will be amplified following the movie shoot.
“My character is really dark and suffering PTSD, so I have to get in this mindset for like a full month,” Rimi said. “I feel sorry for the crowd my first day back. [They’ll be asking] ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’”
APPLAUSE BREAK-DOWN
VENUE: Biergarten, Boca Raton (March 4, 2021)
LINEUP
David Sadman (Host)
Zach McGovern (Guest)
Warren Scott
John Loveless
Nadeem Awad (Feature)
Jimmy Shubert (Guest)
Carl Rimi (Headliner)
SHOW HIGHLIGHT
Rimi came out firing with COVID-19 jokes and the crowd responded. A crafty comic, Rimi even managed to take statistics and make them humorous. “Thank you for coming out and risking your lives to be here,” Rimi started.
BE OUR GUEST
In town during an off night, Shubert provided an electric 10 minutes. His automated bathroom routine isn’t new, but it still drew an applause break. He’s also working on a bit about transgender animals. …Awad is refining some of his bits in advance of recording a video special. …Loveless has a unique reason why he couldn’t make it as a college student these days. …Scott entertained by explaining some of the fringe benefits that come with working at Publix. …With his family in town, McGovern jumped at the opportunity to take the stage for a few minutes. The audience responded to his bit about splitting the check. …Sadman produced another strong show, and his bits are becoming more polished.
WORKING THE ROOM
Rimi had a little fun with a photographer, pulling him onto the stage to take some pictures.
COMICS’ TABLE
Local comics arrived en masse for Thursday’s show. The group included Danny Fineman, Chris Shepard, Minda, Dan long, Steve Lamm and Charly Esturilho.
ONE LINER
“Sadman always puts on a great show. I always know there’s going to be a good crowd.” – Carl Rimi
