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April 13, 2009
Hal Sparks at Harborside
Comedian Hal Sparks performed at Harborside in Stratford Saturday night and I was intrigued enough to check out the show.
I had never watched "Queer as Folk" on Showtime, so my previous exposure to Sparks was as a frequent commentator on VH1's "I Love the '80s," "I Love the '90s," etc., and I vaguely remember his brief stint as host of the E! network's "Talk Soup" show.
But from what little I had seen, I liked his razor-sharp sense of humor.
Saturday's show was definitely cutting-edge and definitely funny. For whatever reason, it takes a lot to get me to laugh out loud, but Sparks accomplished the feat several times.
He doesn't tell jokes as much as he goes off on comic rants. And with his now-long hair flying around on stage, he looked even more manic. Whatever target he set his sights on, he nailed (even if some of those targets hit a little close to home).
It was surprising he had that kind of comic energy, as he had performed at Marisa's in Trumbull earlier Saturday night.
As for Harborside, I wasn't as impressed. It was OK, but the room wasn't created for comedy shows. It was made for dance parties and other such events and the very high ceilings didn't help the sound too much.
Like I said, it was OK. But I'd much rather have my comedy at a place like Marisa's, where you can sit and have a nice meal during the show.
Treehouse Comedy, which put on the event, has more shows coming to Harborside, but those will start earlier than the Sparks show, which began a little after 10 p.m. That should be much more conducive to making a nice night out of seeing a comedian.
Posted by Sean on April 13, 2009 4:58 PM
