Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Laughing through grief: Michael Cruz Kayne’s SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS and Jackie Hoffman’s IT’S OVER WHO HAS WEED?

• By drediman
• May 25, 2023
• No Comments

Over the past week, I came across a pair of shows from comics who used comedy to deal with grief, albeit in divergent ways. Here are my thoughts, as always.

MICHAEL CRUZ KAYNE: SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS
Audible Theater at the Minetta Lane Theater
Through June 10

Currently at the Minetta Lane Theatre, you’ll find Michael Cruz Kayne’s Sorry for Your Loss (RECOMMENDED). Presented by Audible Theater, the solo show came into being as a response to the death of the comedian’s son soon after being born. Suffice to say, Kayne suffered from immense grief, which he spends much of the show analyzing and dissecting. In the process, he sets up and proposes a framework to deal with such overwhelming emotions, which involves two key tenets — having the opportunity to talk about grief (hence, the show at the Minetta Lane), as well as having a nuanced understanding of its prismatic qualities (“grief is not only one thing”). Interesting stuff, to be sure, even if at times the show feels more like a TED Talk than stand-up comedy. Even I f Sorry for Your Loss comes across as a bit too prescriptive, I nonetheless appreciate its aspiration to be constructive and therapeutic.

JACKIE HOFFMAN: IT’S OVER. WHO HAS WEED?
Joe’s Pub
Closed

Then over at Joe’s Pub, Broadway funny woman Jackie Hoffman’s held court with her latest act It’s Over. Who Has Weed? (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). Similar to Kayne’s show, Hoffman’s piece is a reaction to grief, namely the recent trauma of the pandemic lockdown, during which her mother passed away. Unlike Sorry for Your Loss, however, It’s Over. Who Has Weed? veers away from anything analytical or disciplined in its dealings with grief. If anything, her show — which sprinkles witty, invariably offensive musical ditties throughout — viscerally suggests that there really is no appropriate nor correct way to respond to unspeakable loss, as evidenced by her wildly irreverent, envelope-pushing, but ultimately hilarious observational musings. Indeed, no one is safe in the the comedian’s company, not even the memory of her deceased mother. Time and time again, Ms. Hoffman gustily tempts fate with her relentless need to “go there”, detonating everything in her path in the process. The risk was worth it.