You had to be there

The mark of a great comedy troupe is the oddity in its brand of humor. Sure, the latest scandals in Washington, D.C., and Hollywood make great material to get audiences to yuk it up, but to truly make an impression on the average Joe's mind, one must not be afraid to be odd.\nIn its second performance, the up-and-coming comedy group ODDITYS remained true to its name. It was indeed odd. From using non-sequitur haikus as transitions between skits to musical interludes with Polish Jesus Whistle singing songs seemed appropriate exclusively to this comedy group.\nYet despite the truly strange humor, ODDITYS produced a great comedy. Bloomington Playwrights Project's tiny theater was packed to bursting with audience members, and at 11:30 p.m. that is tough to accomplish. \nPolish Jesus Whistle's first song required some explanation. Grant Fore, the guitarist, lead vocalist and sole member of Polish Jesus Whistle, walked onstage with a guitar slung over his back and told of a car that plunges into a river that has a magic wizard's cloak shoved in its tailpipe. The cloak enchants two fish swimming in the river, and the subsequently magical fish then rescue the occupants of the car. After explaining his story, Polish Jesus Whistle launched into song. \nHis singing style lies somewhere between Steve Page of Barenaked Ladies and a slightly tone-deaf Alanis Morrisette. But this did not detract from his song, which was made only that much more quirky by being slightly out of tune. He strummed his guitar like there was no tomorrow and sang about how the fish unbuckled his seat belt.\nAnother great skit featured Mike Mauloff playing Dracula and Greg O'Neill as a convenience store clerk. O'Neill required ID for Dracula's purchase of a beer, and the 4,000 year old undead Dracula didn't have it. Hilarity ensued.\nDespite their low-budget fledgling status in the Bloomington comedy community, the cast members of ODDITYS all possess excellent comedic timing and the writers -- Mauloff, O'Neill, and Ambur Lowenthal -- are quite talented, original and, indeed, odd.\nTrying to explain the comedy to someone who wasn't there is not easy. Much of it is spontaneity, including comments muttered by the actors. The humor is often lost in recollections of the specifics. \nThe ODDITYS player who definitely made an impression was O'Neill. His performance in the skit, "Skip to the Punch Line" was hilarious. Starting off, he began berating the audience over not laughing at a joke that was made immediately preceding his monologue, saying, "You think this joke isn't high-brow enough for you?"\nHe launched into a ranting of "I have The Man on my back!" to "You can't keep me down!" Finally, another cast member entered the stage and announced, "Greg, that joke just didn't go over as planned. Skip to the punch line."\nThe punch line apparently involved an audience member throwing pasta at him while his pants were down, exclaiming loudly, "Law School?"\nMaybe you had to be there.\nNext time, see that you are.