[NoHo Arts District, CA] – Los Angeles favorite and Honorary Mayor of Toluca Lake FRITZ COLEMAN takes up a Sunday afternoon residency at El Portal Theatre with Fritz Coleman’s Unassisted Residency.
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Fritz Coleman’s comedic artistry will continue to be showcased throughout the 2024/25 season. Fritz Coleman’s Unassisted Residency sell-out shows are set for Sunday afternoons at 3 pm, once a month in the Monroe Forum at the historic El Portal Theatre. “I’m happy to be here through 2050,” Fritz insists.
“I love playing this theater,” Coleman says. “The Monroe Forum has an intimacy. Of course, there’s nothing like a big theater crowd erupting into thunderous applause, but there’s something special about this environment. Seating is semi-circular. I can walk right up and have eye contact with people. It feels like I’ve invited a lot of people into my living room, except the snacks and alcohol are better here.”
“I don’t yell and scream and do the Sam Kinison thing, so the intimate atmosphere lets you have a conversation. You can be dramatic, raise and lower your voice, and when the show’s over, I know I’ve made contact with everyone in my audience.”
Coleman is like a great artist who paints spectacular pictures with splashes of vibrant colors. Except Fritz offers splashes of hilarity from his palette of vibrant observations. That is what the beloved former NBC4 weatherman does with his popular standup show. With the skill of an artist creating a masterpiece, he frames unique word pictures that are relatable and tickle our funny bones.
Before Coleman’s performance comes his clever artistry that creates a great standup routine. Talking about his process, Fritz says, “I’m a very disciplined writer. I write for two hours a day. It’s very meditative for me. An idea will occur, then I’ll write a good set up for it. The one caveat I have for all my material is that it has to be relatable to a large audience.”
For his Unassisted show at El Portal, Coleman wants it to be relatable to people of a certain age. “For example, here’s an idea I’ve been working on — ‘Another thing I hated about the pandemic is that restaurants wanted you to download their menu on your phone. I don’t want to read a menu on my phone. Because of my eyesight, I have to have fonts so big that I can only text one word at a time on my phone. So please give me a paper menu.’ That is a subject that is relatable and plugs into other material I do.”
Coleman did standup on The Tonight Show years ago, and he reveals, “The Tonight Show had a mandate that you had to do a joke every 30 seconds. I don’t do set-up, punchline like so many other comics. I tell stories with a twist at the end. I use a metaphor or an interesting observation to get the laugh. Making fun of myself helps the audience laugh at themselves. People may not be able to express their feelings about getting old. But I’m expressing it for them, so they can laugh about it. My whole mandate is to talk about common experiences and create a community of laughter. This does a couple of things— it tickles us and takes the pain of the experience away.”
Someone once called Coleman’s show a “baby boomer support group.” He likes that description.
“I think the job of a comedian now is weightier than ever before. I don’t do political humor, because I don’t feel people need to be reminded about how dark the world is out there. So for that one hour and a half we can lift people out of the weightiness of their lives. Then I think we’ve done a great public service.”
When Coleman hears bubbling chatter from the audience before a performance, he says he knows it will be a great show. “There’s an energetic vibe that comes from an audience and comedians can usually tell how good an audience is going to be by how actively they’re conversing before the show. If it sounds like they’re at mass you’re going to have to work for your laughs.”
Smart funny humor and word play are hallmarks of Coleman’s standup. Not surprising, he was drawn to the standup world when he was in high school and went to George Carlin’s show at the Valley Forge Music Fair. “I’m not exaggerating when I say it was a religious experience. I’m a big fan of language and no one investigated the language better than Carlin.”
What makes Coleman proud about his craft? Fritz says, “I try to be smart. I don’t talk down to the audience. I’m proud to offer relatable, well-written comedy that’s a little different. People come up to me after the show, particularly older people, who say, ‘Thanks, I really needed those laughs.’ It’s like I gave them relief from their aches and pains for a little while.”
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