The Return of the 1-4-5 Show

I'm here to tell you about The 1-4-5 Show, a comedy performance you should plan on attending tonight. And I'm going to admit right off the bat that I know two of the performers. Neil McGarry is a former Phillyist and a personal friend, and Mike Eiswerth is a former coworker. But that just means I'm uniquely qualified to tell you just how funny they are, because I've been around them and their comedy stylings for quite awhile. So how funny are they? So funny that even though I used to get the goods for free, I'm more than ready to pony up the cover charge for tonight's show.

Besides hanging around with these two guys occasionally, I saw them perform at the original 1-4-5 Show, and they were seriously entertaining. If you're wondering what the deal is with the name, the original show was 1 hour of 4 comedians for 5 dollars. The title makes less sense this time around, as it's expanded to a 90 minute show with 6 comedians and a cost of $10. But hey, that just means it's bigger and better, and that the organizers couldn't come up with a better name on short notice. The venue at least has stayed the same: Joe Coffee Bar in Center City. Watching a comedy show at Joe's is like watching a comedy show in somebody's living room; it's very intimate and relaxed.

But to get back to what kind of show you can expect: Neil McGarry's performance is what we like to call gay geek comedy. It deals with Star Wars, relationships, and a whole host of other random topics. It's occasionally blue, but full of a sense of goofiness and fun. Watch the embedded video from the first 1-4-5 Show to see what I mean (and keep in mind it's just part one of Neil's performance; you can scrounge around in the related videos to find the other two parts).

Mike Eiswerth's brand of funny is dry and self-deprecating and makes its focus relationships and religion. Carolyn Busa brings the fast-paced, free association funny, and Katie Kohler's performance, while leaning a bit more heavily on the offensive, gross-out stuff than we normally like, is still pretty amusing. I'm unfamiliar with the work of the two new additions to the 1-4-5 lineup (Joey Callahan and Samita Pendse), but I look forward to finding out more about it tonight.

The Return of the 1-4-5 Show
Joe Coffee Bar (1100 Walnut St.)
Tonight, 3/10/09, 7PM-8:30PM
$10
215-592-7384