Mark Curry isn’t the first nor the last comedian to toggle between acting and stand-up. But he is an example of a comedian whose persona has shifted since his best-known TV role.
For half of the 1990s, Curry starred in the ABC sitcom “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper” as a major league basketball coach-turned-high school teacher. My first familiarity with him came via his tenure hosting the syndicated variety showcase “Showtime at the Apollo” around the same time as the first season of “Cooper”. His CV since then has included stints on Drew Carey’s sitcom and, in the 2010s, the first comedy produced for cable outlet Nick at Nite, “See Dad Run.” He is also show host on “Animal Tails.”
The stand-up routine Curry will bring to Potawatomi Hotel & Casino’s Northern Lights Theater on Saturday, Aug. 10 (7 and 9 p.m. shows), isn’t quite so family oriented as his sitcom work and roles in Disney Channel movies. Here, he is skirting the line of political correctness from a few years ago, addressing mandatory military enlistments for murderers, pedophile clergy and crack addicts, wanting to share a presidential campaign with Condoleezza Rice:
Up the Creek Without a Ticket
“Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper” is long out of production, but a show at least as funny, “Schitt’s Creek,” remains an ongoing proposition. That won’t be for long, though, as the Canadian saga of a wealthy family swindled by their business manager and left to live in the town they bought as a joke for their son will be ending after its forthcoming sixth season.
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Before the series concludes, however, the “Schitt’s Creek: Up Close and Personal” tour hits the Riverside Theater at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 9. The Milwaukee show is sold out, so unless you can snag a ticket on the night of from a show-goer with second thoughts, here’s a glimpse of “Schitt’s Creek” featuring Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara and the reliably hilarious Chris Elliot:
‘Last Podcast on the Left’
Several times a month, smart alecks Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks and Henry Zebrowski evoke the horror wrought by the movie to which their podcast’s name alludes—The Last Podcast on the Left. They crack wise about troublesome topics including the paranormal, cannibals, serial killers and war crimes. The trio have succeeded at making the ghoulish, gory and otherwise unseemly a dark, ongoing chuckle fest.
And they have enough of an audience to bring it to the Pabst Theater on Saturday, Aug. 10, at 8 p.m. For those who can’t get enough of Kissel in particular, he will be sticking around Milwaukee the next day for a screening of his documentary, Hail Yourself, America, about the Stevens Point native’s campaign running for Brooklyn Borough President and the lessons he learned. The screening and subsequent Q&A session will all take place on Sunday, 8 p.m., at the Backroom of Colectivo Coffee, 2211 N. Prospect Ave.
Several especially vivid Last segments have been rendered as cartoons. Here's a short that encapsulates the podcast's aesthetic:
