Death, Let Me Do My Show
Rachel Bloom at Williamstown Theatre Festival
By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 12, 2024
Standup comedian, Rachel Bloom, is a really big deal.
Her rom-com “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” ran for four seasons on The CW with poor ratings but a solid fan base. No doubt many of those loyalists were in the audience for a mid-week, largely sold out show on the main stage at Williamstown Theatre Festival. A crew filmed her routine for Netflix.
To the theme of “Space Jam” she stormed the stage with a background of a red curtain and bold block lettering of her name. The 80 minute set is aptly directed by Seth Barrish. There is a lot of action, including hilarious video projections.
Having launched her routine she injected an aside about the legal battle over use of her theme music. This disruption would prove to be a trope of her performance. She insisted that she was there finally to present a 2019 piece that had been sidelined by Covid. But the continuity of that material was constantly interrupted and deconstructed. It made for a stutter step experience.
That occurred most prominently when she was heckled. Initially, she played it straight and the audience bought in. That morphed into shtick with her former TV co-star, David Hull. Eventually, he bounded on stage with a song of his own as she stepped back. The audience appeared to recognize him which added to the fun. In this iteration they have history which she refuses to acknowledge leading to dramatic tension.
The theme of the evening “Death, Let Me Do My Show” was daunting and improbable. How do you shape a comedy routine around death? We were about to find out.
It seems that she was pregnant with her first child, a daughter, during Covid. In February, 2000 there were complications. With fluid in the lungs the infant required intensive care. The unit, however, was reduced by half to treat Covid patients. Further, visitation was restricted excluding fathers and allowing severely limited access to mothers.
Things went from bad to worse. Her closest friend and writing partner of five-plus years, Adam Schlesinger (a Williams graduate), was in a New York hospital on a ventilator. She was on speed dial to her shrink. He helped by calling the hospital and managing to have their child released to come home. Then they died, first Schlesinger, then the shrink from a heart attack. Another friend, her dresser on the TV show, succumbed to cancer.
That’s a lot of death to cope with. As they say, however, write what you know. There was a binding commonality with the audience as we all endured that nightmare.
In Bloom’s case that prompted a phobia about losing her pet pooch. She fantasizes about a “Rainbow Bridge.” There were truly hilarious kitsch renderings of doggy heaven. I thought the young lady behind us would have a seizure.
I wonder how her shrink guided her through the paranoia of potential pet demise. While we were quarantined, no doubt, there was the ubiquitous surge of bonding with pets from dogs and cats to goldfish. Bloom, to the max, expressed that a dog is a girl’s best friend.
Actually, the reason that I no longer have pets is from the trauma of losing them.
There were graphic details, and a video, of the birthing process and resultant vaginal discharge. It was too much information at least for me.
Then she waxed on about the joy of motherhood. She exulted in the wonder of breast feeding for the first time. With a thumper when she fantasized about nursing her dog. Rhetorically, she asked the women in the audience if, given the opportunity, they would enjoy birthing their pets. Yikes what an image. That’s just too over the line even in comedy.
After an evening of Rachel Bloom we need time in the recovery room.