The Wham City Collective’s Absurd Vision of Comedy

For two hours Nov. 9, the Baltimore-based Wham City Collective delivered sketches, stand-up comedy, short films and general absurdity.

A crowd of around 50 people showed up at the Paragraph Gallery for a night of post-millennial hipster humor. The evening began with an overdubbing of the “Wizard of Oz,” that mostly complained about Toto’s allergies and how cool Dorthy’s shoes were.

Comedian Adam Endres (dressed up as an egg) delivered a series of “yokes” that went over well: “My father used to beat me. He was a whisk. He said it was the only way I could become a mayonnaise.” Erin Gleeson’s story of a tapeworm living inside of her for 10 years was less funny and more horrifying. Dan Deacon’s contributions to the night included a series of obscene phone messages delivered as a character stalking a co-worker.

Not everyone in the crowd appreciated this sort of ridiculous, strange humor. Over half the crowd left after the first set.

The stand-up segments worked better than the sketches and short films. A short parody of war films about stoned fighter pilots ran on for way too long. A piece on trying to teach a video aviator stand-up comedy had its moments, but also dragged on too long.

The second set worked better due to it’s greater focus on stand-up comedy. Each comedian did around 10 minutes of comedy. Ellie Beziat’s retelling of the lewd things some bums downtown whispered to her connected well with the crowd. Oh, the joys of being downtown.

Peter O’Connell had the most well received set of the night. He acted as a parody of a comedian bombing onstage. Filled with awkward pauses, sweating and a lot of heavy breathing into the mic. “What’s the deal with dogs?” he asked confusingly with no response from himself. “Don’t you hate it when you’re watching a football team like, uh, Kansas…City and the quarterback guy can’t throw the, uh, ball to the catcherman?” he said in an attempt to hilariously relate to the audience.

The low rent backdrop, slide projector video screen and microphone feedback added to the group’s goofy aesthetic. It was a strange hit-and-miss night of weird comedy.