If they’re letting you on stage, you better have something to show for it.
A comedy show in Williamsburg is recreating the classroom atmosphere of show-and-tell — and just like when you were a kid, it takes more than words to impress your classmates.
“I was always the king of show and tell when I was a kid because I would bring in weird stuff,” said Lukas Kaiser, the host and organizer of the monthly Showcasey Jones.
“[My mom] was an anatomy instructor and would have model hearts, anatomy books — one time she brought in a brain in a jar for me.”
Before presenting a night of stand-up comedy, the show asks audience members to come on stage and show off something weird or cool. The two parts of the night go hand-in-hand, as Kaiser says the kid activity is not unlike standing on stage and telling jokes.
“I would bring in something weird and riff on it and get laughs,” he said. “It was probably the first comedy gig I’ve ever been booked on, second grade show-and-tell.”
In Brooklyn, the popularity of adult kickball, scavenger hunts, and Popsicles indicate there isn’t a shortage of nostalgia. Kaiser hopes to bring a childlike compulsion to show off weird stuff in front of other people to comedy.
“I’ve been doing stand up comedy for about five years and it’s fantastic, performing in front of audiences all over New York, but I missed the participation element of those days when I was a kid,” said Kaiser.
So far, Brooklynites have brought in some impressively bizarre objects to show off — last month, that included inappropriate tattoos, photographs of a dead goat, a homemade tube amplifier, a Shaquille O’Neal comic book, and oddly enough, a bag of donuts with a remote control.
In every show the audience votes on a winner to take home a grand prize — this time $100 in cash “to be placed inside an odd, yet to be determined item,” Kaiser said.
Showcasey Jones at Over the Eight [594 Union Ave. between Richardson and Frost streets in Williamsburg, www.overtheeight.com] Aug. 17, 8 pm. Free.
Reach reporter Jaime Lutz at jlutz@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8310. Follow her on Twitter @jaime_lutz.
