by ***1/2 (out of 5)
Reuben Solo was one of the first comedians to successfully show up on my For You Page feed on TikTok and migrate over to my Following feed. The Aussie had a love for playing multiple characters spinning themselves dizzy into linguistic and philosophic wormholes, and I loved it. How would that translate to a solo stage show?
He overcomes that hurdle, bursting onto the stage, letting us know immediately he’s more than just a guy interacting with himself on a screen that you and I and more than a half-million more see on TikTok. He has funny graphs, mostly about how the show will go and then later, how the show is going. He does a meta bit about impersonations (which I’ve seen other comedians do), but he has added a new element to his that I hadn’t seen before. He gives himself and us a halftime pep talk.
Solo doesn’t always work solo, so to speak. He’ll incorporate his tech guy and audience members into the act, even if it means the joke’s always on him. On the day I attended, this became ironic when actual tech issues derailed the set for several minutes. Ironic, since he’d done a meta bit about feedback earlier. If they can fix the tech issues, I’m sure they’ll get the star treatment they deserve. Or is that vice versa?
Reuben Solo: Palindrome runs through Aug. 27 at Just The Tonic at The Mash House
