Yi leaves a little magic with audience after performance

A little bit of magic came to Bloomington, when Charlyne Yi performed at the Comedy Attic.

The show opened Thursday and ran through Saturday.

Instead of common stand up, Yi sang songs, told some “knock, knock” jokes and did a little bit of magic.

“I don’t know how to tell jokes. I tell stories,” Yi said.

Yi’s show featured a type of comedy that is mostly accepted by the non-traditionalists.

“Some people will not book me, because they don’t think what I do is funny,” Yi said.

Shows have changed in the past few years, Yi said, to become more segregated. A person goes to a comedy club to see comedy, a magic club to see magic and a concert to hear music.

“Steve Martin did song and dance. I think it’s always been there,” Yi said. “It’s usually magic, comedy and music.”

With deadpan jokes and songs, Yi was set to bring back the old while ushering in a new type of comedy.

“A lot of times with traditional comedy, it can feel false or staged, but with Charlyne it’s always new and fresh,” comedian Josh Arnold said.

Yi improvised skits with audience members. One volunteer was a woman who Yi pretended was her mother and wrote her a song about not being there. During another skit, she sat, waiting for a person to ask her to dance.

“I don’t know what funny is,” Yi said. “A lot of my songs are sad like the ‘mom song.’ But as a drama teacher once told me, there is a fine line between comedy and drama.”

By involving audience members, Yi gained the trust of the audience and blurred the lines of what is staged and reality, she said during her show.

“Charlyne is the most awkward cute girl I’ve ever seen in my life,” audience member Katy Rickelman said.

At the end of the show, Yi urged audience members to stop thinking so much and to exercise caution when trusting the voices in our heads. She also said she wanted the audience to take a little bit of magic with them.

“I like the idea of making people happy,” Yi said, “I like to make people happy or laugh — it’s an amazing job.”