
Photo Source: Benjamin Salka
Sadly, director Benjamin Salka hasn't done much to keep Eichner on target. Vicious and very funny jokes about leather bars and gay marriage sit uneasily among gags on Oprah's weight and painfully clichéd jabs at Facebook and Twitter. The latter tired quips make Eichner seem like the funny guy you meet in a bar who eventually gets too drunk and shrill.
His evening of stand-up interspersed with songs owes a big debt to Sandra Berhard and Justin Bond, both of whom he acknowledges during a particularly potent attack on the Judd Apatow school of comedy. The songs aren't as successful as his sometimes startlingly original social commentary about being white in a post-Obama world. He does deserve satiric full marks for punking Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" as "Where Have All the White People Gone?" Given time, Eichner could easily become the white, gay Richard Pryor; he's already figured out the alchemy that turns rage into humor.
Presented by and at Joe's Pub, 445 Lafayette St., NYC.
May 25–June 12. Mon., June 1, 7:30 p.m.; Mon., June 8, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., June 12, 7:30 p.m.
(212) 967-7555.