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Entries in MF with the Hat (1)

Tuesday Apr 19 2011 The Motherf**ker With the Hat @ The Gerald Schoenfeld Theater

Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 1:27PM

The phone conversation with the operator from Telecharge went like this:

"Hi, I'd like 2 for, uh.. the er... M.F. with the hat."

"Oh do you mean, The MOTHERFUCKER with the Hat?"

"Yeah... that one."

I was as embarrassed to say it as she was overeager.

The filthy language didn't stop in that sordid phone chat. It continued into the night, all throughout the play. I generally find swearing to be a lame way of adding limited shock value to ideas and statements that aren't strong enough to stand on their own without it. For example, if you start an improv scene with "Fuuuuuck!" it's kind of weak, right? You're going to get laughs, but that vulgarity up front comes with a cost. You lose some of the audience right away and you have to continually top it or else you'll lose the rest of it. To prove that point, the play actually opens with a girl snorting drugs while talking to her mom on the phone--oooh, shocking!

But I didn't come to this to hear swear words and see drug usage. I came for Chris Rock in his Broadway debut.

For someone at Chris Rock's level, the theater is his final frontier. Or I guess maybe politics? The same motivation pushes rappers to become comedians and Christina Aguilera to become a gameshow judge--there's simply just nothing left to do in your field.

The premise of the play is that Bobby Canavale finds some mofo's hat in his girlfriend's apartment. After Bobby puts his nose to the bedsheets and smells "Aqua Velva and dick," they fight and he moves in with his AA sponsor/supposed friend, Chris Rock, a married man who aside from having a bitter wife, seems to have his life together. The identity of the mofo is later discovered and more fighting (stage combat!) and swearing ensues.

It's decent!

PREVIOUSLY ON BROADWAY

* La Bete

* The Pee Wee Herman Show