Mrs. solost saw he was going to make a local appearance. She asked me “is this something you might want to see?” Tickets were relatively cheap. I said eh, why not? Something to do. I had no idea what kind of standup chops he has, but i like him fine as an actor. I thought he was very good in the Hulu show ‘Reboot’ which unfortunately got canceled after one season, so I thought, sure, let’s help him keep his mortgage paid.
It was…OK. A few chuckles. Non-offensive, G to PG-rated for the most part (when he did do a bit about oral sex, his euphemisms were so painfully crafted to be non-offensive while still trying to get the point across, it was like “jeez, either tell it like it is or stick to the G-rated jokes”).
It was called “The Big Font Tour”, so, as expected, there were a lot of jokes about aging. The funniest stuff to me and I think to Mrs. solost, though, was when he used his wife to illustrate the differences between men and women-- “now, don’t get me wrong, we’ve been married for 34 years and I love my wife very much, BUT…” Well-trod territory for sure, but he had a couple amusing observations. "My wife will come into a room, and say something. I’ll say ‘what?’ She irritatedly says ‘I’m talking to myself.’ Then, two minutes later, she says in the exact same volume and tone of voice “now where did I leave my phone?..HELLO I"M TALKING TO YOU”. Yes, that was about the speed of it. Not exactly side-slappers, but Mrs. solost and I looked at each other and smiled- she does that same thing to me all the time.
When we first got to the venue, a place I’d never been, looking to park I mistakenly pulled into an employee lot in back where the stage door was, and a guy was standing outside the door having a smoke. I jokingly said, “hey, there’s Paul Reiser”. Mrs. solost said “that IS Paul Reiser!”. And so it was. She snapped a phone pic but we decided let him enjoy his smoke and not to bother him further.
Even though I watched every Mad About You episode up until the birth of their daughter, he will for ever be the slimy corporate shill, Burke, from Aliens and that makes it hard to see him doing stand up. Although your description of his act does fit Paul, his Mad About You character to a tee.
Yes, it was very much as if his ‘Mad About You’ character did standup.
I had actually forgotten he was in Aliens- I was reminded reading a show booklet that outlined his CV. I also totally forgot he was in ‘Stranger Things’, even though we just watched that. He’s been in some stuff.
I just marathoned Reboot and the 8th, recent season of Mad About You,so this thread is relevant to my interests. If I were to go to a Paul Reiser standup, what you described is exactly what I would expect. Thanks for the post, I didn’t know he was doing standup these days. I recall he did it in his younger days in the 80’s, pre-Alien and Mad About You.
Yeah, he was in Stranger Things! I forgot that too. I’ve so internalized him as Burke I just knew he was going to be a slimy jerk. He is definitely typecast in my brain.
As compared with Matthew Modine’s character, wasn’t Reiser the nice black ops super-secret government scientist who performed experiments on captive psychic teenagers?
Oops, and I normally try to be careful about spoiling things. Missed the edit window to blur. I don’t think I’m spoiling too much by saying that though.
His act used to be pretty good. I still think about his routine about how dogs will get excited to go on a walk even if you ask them to go on one…while they are already on one. “Another walk, right in the middle of this walk? Wow!”
Here is a “find me the movie with that guy in it” question. Paul Reiser, I’m almost certain, was in a movie I saw once on TV about 25 years ago, perhaps more.
He went to a bank, when the teller was gone, he flipped the computer around(or leaned around the other side) and typed in millions of dollars on his bank balance instead of the low amount on there. He became instantly rich.
I remember nothing else about the movie. Anyone know what movie this was?
Makes for excellent casting because I can’t be the only one who thinks this way. I’m glad he’s chugging along, adding to his surprisingly expansive resume.
Slightly disappointing that he was just meh. In his prime I thought he was one of the best. It’s not really surprising. He hasn’t done stand up in 20 years. It’s not something you can pick up where you left off. The comedy muscles atrophy. He’s busy acting so who knows if he was willing to put in the work doing club sets to work out the material.
I forgot he was in that movie. Reiser has been in a lot of stuff. Christ, they all look like children in that scene
Heh, your story about how you have a hard time getting past his slimy bad guy character in ‘Aliens’ reminded me of an anecdote from the Saturday show. I know you know he’s just acting, it’s just that he was so good at playing a bad guy in that movie it’s made it hard for you to think of him as anything but. However, he said some people he meets think he’s actually married to Helen Hunt.
He said one time he was in an airport, and he saw some woman staring angrily at him. He said “can I help you?” or something. She yells “HOW COULD YOU LET HELEN BE NAKED IN THAT MOVIE?!?” (Hunt was in a movie called “The Sessions”, he explained, in which she played a sex surrogate therapist and had nude scenes).
He had to gently explain that one, they weren’t actually married, and two, even if they were, she’s a grown woman who can make her own decisions.
So if you ever run into Paul Reiser in an airport, try not to yell “HOW COULD YOU BETRAY SIGOURNEY WEAVER LIKE THAT!?!”
Mrs. solost and I watched ep1 of The Komisky Method last night. Very much more of a poignant drama than a comedy in that first episode, but well done and on the show rotation now.
If I were to go to a Paul Reiser standup, what you described is exactly what I would expect. Thanks for the post, I didn’t know he was doing standup these days. I recall he did it in his younger days in the 80’s, pre-Alien and Mad About You.
