more reviews of McFwaps shows as requested
TKONKLE
"Better than most of what's on in the West End!"
"They're just like those guys from Beyond the Fringe, only with the girl,
they're even better!"
"Amazing chemistry - not just a bunch of talented individuals, but a real
cohesive team."
"Every time Stephanie walked out on stage, I laughed before she even opened her
mouth." (I accept this may not have been a compliment, but I think it was
intended as one... :-)
"That Tom - he's like a comedy rock, isn't he? You can really depend on him to
make you laugh!"
"Gino had me falling about laughing."
"Dave made me laugh - the one about indecision was brilliant."
Concensus was that something very special is going on when the 5 of us get
together to play - not necessarily a surprise, but nice to know the world
agrees!
I do hope you will come see our latest venue.
For more information on when and where its coming and for our historuy, reviews
and information
please goto http://www.lestermcfwap.com
TKONKLE
with full balance. Our own original material has THANKFULLY RECEIVED GENERALLY
GOOD notices and we are grateful
I include our bad review as well.
COME SEE OUR NEW ORIGINAL SHOW ALL NEW SKETCHES LIVE WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY
MCFWAP.
Enjoy!
Theater Beat;
The Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles, Calif.; Dec 7, 2001;
'Owl-Stretching Time' Built of Python Sketches Light of intention but leaden in
tone, "Owl-Stretching Time," an evening of never-performed Monty Python
sketches at the Santa Monica Playhouse, is a conscientious and well-performed
effort that only manages to be intermittently funny.The sketches, written
primarily by the late Monty Python member Graham Chapman, with additional
material by John Cleese, Eric Idle and "possibly a few other Pythons," has been
carefully unearthed from Chapman's personal archives especially for this show.
Tom Konkle, a founding member of the comedy troupe Lester McFwap, directs and
also stars. Konkle's fellow cast members include David Beeler, Michael Lindsay
and Michael Neill, McFwap regulars all. Also appearing is Gino C. Vianelli as
Queeg-Queeg, a comically misplaced "Moby-Dick" character who kibitzes
wordlessly during many of the scenes.I t's a technically ambitious evening,
with an expertly rendered sound design, seamless video segments--and, of
course, plenty of good old Python-esque drag. When it's working, the comedy
achieves the zaniness of a British Christmas pantomime.
At its worst, it is merely effusive--high-decibel verbiage without a payoff.
Some of this material was simply too sexually explicit to be performed back in
Monty Python's heyday.
But much of it is tame stuff that was obviously relegated to the archives for
good reason. The excavation of these tidbits by Konkle et al. might hold some
sociological interest for true Python buffs.
For the general public, however, the bulk of this lengthy evening might prove a
slow go.*"Owl-Stretching Time," Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4th St., Santa
Monica. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Jan. 19. $17.50. (323) 655- 8587.
Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.F. Kathleen Foley
BACKSTAGE WEST. (the one of the largest theater trade weekly)
Owl-Stretching Time
November 22, 2001
Backstage West.
reviewed by Brad Schreiber
Perhaps the best way to see the British comedy troupe Monty Python live without
actually seeing them is by catching this never-before-produced show of
sketches, written mostly by Graham Chapman, (who is, alas, dead), with help
from Eric Idle and John Cleese...the job is thus left to the comedy stylings of
Lester McFwap, previously impressive in a NoHo show of original sketches of
decidedly British bent.
This four-man group is consistantly witty and video often is smartly used in
transistions...(fifth member is Gino C. Vianelli)..some of the punchier pieces
include "Liberal Family," in which a young man (Michael Neill) is shocked by
the verbal sexual effrontery of the parents (Tom Konkle, Michael Lindsay) of
the woman he is dating. Fending off inquires about her carnal abilities, he
must then deal with an offer to bed down with an unseen granny: "She can be a
lot of fun when she takes her teeth out."
One can see how many of the sketches were eventually transmogrified into
material for the Python's classic BBC TV show, such as a series of interview
shows, with problems like a host who won't shut up (Michael Neill) or the
hilarious Michael Lindsay, as Dr. Applefoot, an advocate of capital punishment.
His luridly outrageous facial expressions and Dr. Strangelove-esque body
contortions show his excitement as he proves to be a proponent of the rack and
being "stoned with hardened croissants."
Konkle is marvelously in character for the "Grublian Tourist Board," his
vaguely Teutonic harshness hilariously painting a portrait of a vacation to a
veritable police state. David Beeler and Michael Lindsay shine as a batty old
married couple who insist on ordering mango stingers in a post office...(all)
the boys have got their British-isms down, and as a rare insight into the early
days of Python, it's more than a bit of all right.
Produced in association with Jim Yoakum and the Graham Chapman Archives.
Entertainment Today
(the LA City Wide Entertainment magazine)
ENTERTAINMENT TODAY
Owl-Stretching Time
Santa Monica Playhouse
Reviewed by Tim Cogshell
Since November 2nd Monty Python has been on stage at the Santa Monica
Playhouse. Well, not exactly... but it's certainly the next best thing. Indeed,
the material is pure and actual Python, written by Graham Chapman, John
Cleese, Eric Idle and others; executed by the sketch comedy troupe Lester
McFwap a group of American comic/actors well known for their own Pythonesque
antics. Tom Konkle, David Beeler, Michael Lindsay, Gino C. Vianelli and Michael
Neill are Lester McFwap, with Konkle also serving as the production's director.
The show is like a trip in the wayback machine to the heart the British cult
comedy circuit--circa 1970. Essentially the show consists of a troupe of
American actors using sundry British accents (quite believably) and
colloquially specific references while performing anglophilic comedy sketches
written for a British audience some 30 or so years ago. And it's damn funny!
Perhaps even funnier now as it would have been then, even had the actual
Pythons performed 19 or so sketches, video and audio vignettes and other asides
that make up the two hour performance.
In fact, none of the material in Owl-Stretching Time has ever been performed
live before, so even Python aficionados will find it quite new and
refreshing...if not a little odd. The material ranges from the loose-and-lewd,
as in a dirty little scene in which an extremely "progressive" family presses
the concept of sexual openness beyond its limits, to the odd, a sketch that
take the audience behind the scenes of the BWF (British Wrestling Federation)
where things are quite "gay," to a near stream-of-conscious intellectual
stroll as Michael Neill and Tom Konkle play a couple of seasoned old ladies (as
the Pythons often did) shooting pigeons and discussing partial auditory
antisibilances and quantum physics whilst snorting pure coke... and just about
everything in between.
There are tightly woven narrative driven pieces that reflect John Cleese's
particular sense of the pompous (as in the detective sketch), disparate shifts
of tone (often involving gunfire) and flat-out jokes. This is pure Python,
interpreted by a group of comedians who plainly enjoy paying homage to the
style of comedy that's influenced them most. They're like a talented Beatles
revival band, making you believe for just one moment that John and George are
still with us. What the show isn't is remotely topical. There is not a single
reference to the Taliban, Osama or George W. in the whole two hours. For that
alone it's worth the full price of admission, which is $17.50. Catch it before
it goes away
I believe DAZ writes the Python website and knows Cleese. I met him and he told
him about the show he says.
WWW.PYTHONLINE.COM A World Premiere of Chapman sketches.
Review of Owl-Stretching Time www.pythonline.com
The material was fantastic; lots of genuine gems hidden in the sketch list. I
was impressed with the amount of memories the material provided me with!
As for the performance, what can I say? The McFwap cast obviously love the
material and the Python name, and perform the stuff with unheard of enthusiasm.
Most of the laughs came from the wonderful characterizations of the cast,
rather than the material, it seemed to me.
Tom Konkle does a GREAT Cleese, and the rest of the cast, Michael Lindsay,
David Beeler, Michael Neill and Gino C. Vianelli do a similarly great job of
fitting the face and role to the character. Over-all, I was bloody impressed,
and what the show lacks in size and space, it well and truly makes up for in
enthusiasm and professionalism.
Great job, and please do go check it out; you won't regret it. And no, I have
not been paid to say this.
Daz
The Official Monty Python Website
(to be fair OUR BAD REVIEW he does not care for Python)
DAILY VARIETY
Julio Martinez
The inherent humor of the legendary British comedy troupe Monty Python's Flying
Circus came out of the jaundiced wit and unmatched synergistic rapport among
troupe members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Terry
Jones (and later American Terry Gilliam). The five-member Lester McFwap
Ensemble charges energetically through 23 never-before-performed Pythonic
sketches but never comes close to achieving the zany amalgam of social satire,
surrealism and pure slapstick that imbued Python stage performances. Helmed by
McFwap founding member Tom Konkle (NBC's "Spy TV"), the production suffers from
an over-abundance of awkwardly staged material exacerbated by limited stage
space, badly timed light cues and interminable blackout pauses between
routines.
The McFwap group certainly has the costuming down. The procession of sketches
features an awe-inspiring assortment of attire, transforming the players into
everything from dowager-draped old ladies to colonial soldiers to an assortment
of lower lifeforms. Unfortunately, this frantic rush to dress the part merely
underscores a plethora of underdeveloped or over-the-top characterizations that
don't serve the material. The small size of the playing area also proves a
hindrance. The opening routine, featuring a verbose police inspector (Konkle)
over-explaining a murder, is sabotaged by performers practically bumping into
each other. Later, limited space robs sketch about the machinations of a
sex-starved colonial soldier (Michael Lindsay) attempting to compromise the
company goat of its vitality.
Many bits simply outlast their comic possibilities. An irate Scottish consumer
(Konkle) rails on much too long against a hapless radio salesman (David Beeler)
who won't give him satisfaction. A post office sketch also is exhausted quickly
as Konkle's postmaster is harassed by a hard-of-hearing elderly couple
(Lindsay/Michael Neill) who prove more irritating than laugh-provoking.Some of
the sketches hit their intended mark, despite the energy-sapping, inexplicably
long blackouts between bits.
Konkle is properly understated as a marriage broker attempting to satisfy the
demands of a mild-mannered serial killer (Beeler) who dispatches his brides
soon after the nuptials. TV talkshow host Neill does a proper job of driving
guest Lindsay into a state of apoplectic fury by not allowing him to get a word
in.
The ensemble comes closest to duplicating Python's controlled insanity in a
sketch about two British Space Project operatives (Konkle, Neill) recruiting a
blind astronaut candidate (Lindsay).
MCFWAP PERFORMS BEYOND THE FRINGE.
LA WEEKLY "COMEDY PICK OF THE WEEK"
Tom Frykman
It’s not every week someone creates a live show in Hollywood to celebrate a
guy who did sketches in England 30 years ago, but comics Joe Dunn, Thomas
Konkle, Michael Lindsay and David Beeler have taken it upon themselves to pay
homage to a true comedy innovator in Peter Cook.
Among other accomplishments, Cook influenced the course of satiric comedy for
generations by breaking through then-taboos against lampooning elected
officials. The Monty Python brethren were in awe of him, and at one point Woody
Allen saw fit to call him "Britain’s only comic genius." Cook died in 1995,
and Dunn and company now reprise a number of his sketches from Beyond the
Fringe, which was launched in the early 1960s with Alan Bennett, Jonathan
Miller and frequent partner Dudley Moore.
The material holds up surprisingly well, especially a piece that could have
been written for the millennium. It features an apocalyptic group that sits on
a mountaintop, all holding "The End Is Nigh" signs, and counting down to the
Big Finale. When the appointed time comes and goes without so much as a hint of
calamity, the cult leader checks his watch. "It’s . . . spring forward, fall
back, isn’t it, lads? Never mind, same time tomorrow ó we must get a winner
one day." Another dry highlight is "A Bit of a Chat," in which an uptight man
sits his son down for the uncomfortable talk about sex, or as he terms it, "The
method whereby you came to be brought about." Dad describes the procreative
process with authority: "It was necessary for your mother to sit on a chair
which I had recently vacated, and which was still warm from my body, and then
something very mysterious, rather wonderful and beautiful happened, and, sure
enough, four years later you were born."
Performing this stylized, absurdist material can only come from a labor of
love, and the cast executes it flawlessly. If you shut your eyes, you can feel
the comic rhythms of Cook, Moore and Monty Python.
At the Complex Theater, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Thurs., Dec. 16, 7:15
p.m.; Fri.-Sat., Dec. 17-18, 7:15 & 9 p.m.; $10 in advance, $12 at the door
"...a brilliantly realized and surprisingly bittersweet tribute to the father
of modern satire...Dunn and Konkle in particular capture Cook's halting
cadences and demented personas to perfection... KRLA
"...Dunn is a terrific stage presence, clearly confident and assured in his
style, incorporating a range of subtle character moments and deranged
touches...
"...Konkle must be the American love child of John Cleese and Michael Palin, an
instantly funny presence on stage..."
"Lindsay is a forceful comic whose quick wit and characterizations were
perfectly realized throughout the show."
The NOHO NEWS