The Upstage Interview: Sidemart Theatrical Grocery

How Stupid It Can Get

Upstage Contributor  Alison Louder  spoke wiith  SideMart Theatrical Grocery about Whiteman’s Whiskey Comedy Revue.  Below is an abridged version edited by Estelle Rosen, CharPo editor-in-chief.

UPSTAGE

Tell us about Whiteman’s Whiskey Comedy Revue.

SIDEMART

The show is based on 1950s format of a lot of white performers being on TV such as Dean Martin and others. A satire on inherent racism and sexism that was prevalent in a lot of the old comedy that people took at face value.

We understand politically correct values, but a lot of those ideas and beliefs are still inherent in comedy today.

UPSTAGE

I love the idea of this show. Sounds like the subject is still necessary. Was that the inspiration for this show?

SIDEMART

As we do the research we’re stlll quite surprised  how prevalent sexism, racism and classicism is rampant through a lot of older film and comedy shows. The furthest we go back is about 50 years but even then there was still a lot of stuff that we could draw parallels to today. We understand politically correct values, but a lot of those ideas and beliefs are still inherent in comedy today. We try to exploit this by showing how stupid it can get.

UPSTAGE

You’ve experimented doing this in vaudeville style in the past. Is there still going to be that vaudeville touch?

SIDEMART

We started out inspired by the change from vaudeville to TV. Now what we’re doing is sending the show overseas. Inspiration is Bob Hope style shows back in the day.

In earlier shows, we were talking about sexism; this time war and racism. What excites us is that there’s a live audience.  A lot of shows try to ignore that reality. We like the audience being there. They’re treated as if they are the troops. We’ve had a lot of fun with that.

We write into the show lots of  moments where a gag dies here or there and there are moments of vulnerability or where the performance becomes transparent.

UPSTAGE

How much improvising is there during the show? Seems like there’s a lot of opportunity for improvising.

SIDEMART

What happens is we write the show to try to sound and feel as though it’s coming off the  hip the whole time. We write into the show lots of  moments where a gag dies here or there and there are moments of vulnerability or where the performance becomes transparent. Very little improvisation but it’s certainly inspired from the mold of people walking out on stage and trying to tell a joke with not much in their pocket. It feels really loose at times but it’s all considered as part of the piece.

UPSTAGE

Sounds extremely difficult to pull off that type of comedy that feels naturalistic yet highly stylized. What’s it like to work with a collective of people who come from various influences, seems like a new style of comedy.

SIDEMART

It’s a style we’ve been developing on our feet. We approached it less from a standup comedy or informal sketch show approach, more with the idea we’re building a  theatre play. So we try to be aware of the narrative that lies underneath each scene.  

The purpose of all the scenes is to try and create a more detailed vision of the world and of who these people are while you’re watching.  As we learn about what makes Dick Powell tick, we learn how stubborn, and selfish he could be. All the other characters in the show are sort of going on different journeys but in a similar vein.

UPSTAGE

Are the characters from previous Whiteman’s Revue coming back?

SIDEMART

Mickey Darling, Chester Knuckles.  Professor Smotes will be there. We’ve added a new character, Soldier B J  Baker. And the Buck Wheaton band will be there.

Whiteman’s Whiskey Comedy Revue runs Dec. 7-18 at MainLine Theatre.