Hey, Bartender
by Brendan McNally
“Hey Bartender!” is a sketch comedy about what goes on after the bar closes for the night. Find out abouth Bartender Tai-Chi and the Bartender motto and prayer. You’ll also get to meet some Splinterland Booze Who patrons like the Cougar and The Loon. Come on down and find out what happens after you get chucked out. Strong Language.
June 21st, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Brendan McNally and Phil Caracas from “Hey, Bartender!” interviewed on CBC Ottawa Morning. Scroll down to June 20th– “Hey Bartender” a comedy sketch at Fringe Festival–to check it out!
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Having spent three days in anticipation of a great sketch comedy, I was sadly disappointed with “Hey Bartender.” The performance, which started out shakily, never picked up the pace. Delivery by some of the actors was flat and contrived and I actually wondered if this was a scripted sketch or just bad improv.
There was much potential for this comedy piece purely based on the subject matter, yet nothing was fall-down funny or laugh-out-loud funny, except for one saving grace – the referral to Leprechaun IV. Of course only two or three members of the audience actually knew the context and laughed aloud.
All in all, the performers struggled to be funny and perhaps over-acted to compensate for a weak script. Sadly, I was not left with a warm feeling of amusement but I do believe in supporting the Arts and encourage others to venture out and catch a few shows.
June 24th, 2008 at 12:09 am
This show wasn’t the best or the worst. The acoustics of the venue made the actors impossible to hear, and a lot of hilarity was missed. The Cougar sequence was very funny, but the actual writing of the entire play seemed to miss something. The actors, many of which I think rock, didn’t seem to be putting out 100%.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
The first 1/2 of the play was great. I loved the comradory of the bar staff and the documentaries of bar archetypes. I was really disappointed when the whole bit about the government and funding came in - it just spun the play in a totally (and unrelated) direction which i wasn’t interested in.
June 26th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
The YouTube video excerpt is accurate. That’s exactly what you get.
The night I saw it, they told us one actor was ill, and the writer had
to step in with a script in hand to fill the gap. (The director was
already onstage in another role.)
The abrupt detour, late in the script, into the topic of the government
meddling with arts funding based on the perceived “public interest”
was curious. I think it’s important that the public hear about how this
issue affects arts organizations and productions. The transition occurred
late in the play, went on at length, and thus seemed a bit out-of-place.