The Attack of the Big Angry Booty

The Bedroom

Remaining Performance: Sunday, July 26 at 7:00 pm.

They say: Dieting sucks!  Whether it’s 1 pound or 100 pounds losing weight is never easy.  Come experience the roller coaster ride on the one hellish trip that we all will eventually have to take, getting in shape.

Ann’s take: Have you ever gone out for happy hour with your coworkers, and there’s that one colleague who won’t stop with his stories about the various and ridiculous customer interactions he had that day… and you laugh politely but you’re really thinking, ‘it is not a unique experience to have to deal with difficult people and these stories really aren’t that funny’… and he’s not letting anyone else have the floor during his little stand-up routine… so you just sit there, for an hour, silently sipping your half-priced vodka and soda until you can finally blurt out that you have to leave immediately to pick up your dry cleaning before it closes?  Les Kurkendaal is that coworker, and The Attack of the Big Angry Booty is that happy hour, minus the cheap drinks.

This one-man show is a mishmash of vignettes about the clients Kurkendaal met during his two-year stint as a Jenny Craig counselor in West Hollywood commingled with the man’s own tale of losing 20 pounds. While this isn’t necessarily bad material, Kurkendaal never quite hits a satisfying punch line.  Instead, we get the first few minutes of a stereotypical dieting story—fear of exercise, lack of fast-food willpower, etc.—before Kurkendaal abruptly moves on, having failed to bring the previous anecdote to any sort of fruition.  Lengthy explanations of Jenny Craig protocol and meandering lectures on improper dieting practices further slow the piece.

Script aside, Kurkendaal is a charismatic performer.  While his delivery could use some polishing—there were frequent stalls while he gathered his thoughts—his expressive eyes and camp-counselor enthusiasm were engaging: The reenactments of his clients’ temper tantrums will take you back to your days as a summer retail associate!  Plus, he’s a fountain of useful diet tips.  Did you know a vodka and soda only has 100 calories?  Hundreds of dollars in Jenny Craig dieting advice awaits you for the bargain cost of a $15 ticket.

See it if: You’re ready for the next Richard Simmons (sans shorty shorts and tank top).

Skip it if:  You have to pick up your dry cleaning.