by **** (out of 5)
After an initial experience at the Fringe in 2019, Emmy Blotnick became convinced she should return with her own one-person-show for a full run in 2020. She landed upon a simple enough premise: Superstar Jennifer Lopez had put out 30 uniquely different perfumes and colognes. Whip up two minutes of jokes per fragrance. Voila! A 60-minute show.
But Blotnick’s gimmick gave way to the COVID pandemic. Two years later, while there’s still plenty to riff about regarding J.Lo (or must we call her J.Aff now? how about J.L’Aff?! sorry I’ve digressed, back to the review), particularly in contrasting the singer/actress/dancer’s career and lifestyle with that of the comedian, Blotnick has even more material now about how her family dynamic itself perhaps has not passed the sniff test, as the pandemic has upended their lives and her relationships with them.
On the outside, things had seemingly gone swimmingly for Emmy Blotnick. She’d recently added writing for Mel Brooks’s History of the World: Part 2 to her resume, along with writing for Peacock’s Bust Down, and writing and co-EPing HBO’s Pause with Sam Jay. There’s a joke in this hour that subtly references how her work life and casual life have contributed to a conundrum or two. To be fair, though: There are tons of jokes loaded in this hour. Even her ad-libbed asides are hilarious.
She can rest assured that she’s not a blot on her family name.
And while reading a list of things she has experienced that J.Lo never has, the fire alarm at the Assembly George Square Studios went off. Just one more thing Blotnick can add to her list.
Emmy Blotnick: The 30 Fragrances of Jennifer Lopez: A Show About Death, Betrayal and Financial Ruin, through Aug. 29, 2022, at Assembly George Square Studios (Studio Five)
