by *** 1/2 (out of 5)
Anyone in the stand-up comedy business can testify to receiving that first big laugh or wave of laughter from an audience, and getting hooked on the feeling, and chasing it for the rest of their lives like a drug addiction. Well, Nick Pupo knows exactly why and how that comparison is apt, as an addict. Or is Pupo merely buy-curious when it comes to all of the drugs?
In a thoughtfully staged, well-acted and well-told tale, Pupo recounts his relationship with his childhood best friend, and the many promises he broke with that friend as Pupo became a troubled teen in Florida, doing drugs and lying about that and virtually anything else. He lies because he’s afraid of how his friends and frenemies might react. As he tells us how he has gotten clean, slipped, and gotten back up again, he’s not quite tub-thumping here. Pupo never quite goes camp. It’s also much more of a dramedy than a comedy. But he’s engaging throughout. The only question you’re left with isn’t whether he’s still holding back anything from his friends or from us, it’s whether he’s willing to face his own truth.
Nick Pupo: Addicted runs through Aug. 27 at Just The Tonic at The Mash House
