Photo: Justine Ungaro
review by James Judd
Judy Gold is on fire. She is killing it at The Post Office Café & Cabaret. She is all the adjectives you can use to describe someone who demonstrates a complete and total mastery of their craft.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure that I would be able to relate to her material. Being neither Jewish, lesbian, or a parent—her three main subjects. While most members of the packed audience were at least one of those things, I feared being left out of the fun. I’m so happy to say I was wrong. I haven’t laughed that hard for that long since, well, I can’t remember. Regardless of the topic, Gold is above all else totally relatable no matter what she’s discussing.
Bounding on stage in a white, silk chemise, looking lithe and youthful in a way that belied her 61 years, Gold was both relaxed and completely focused. Despite a long career in stand-up with many forays into acting, writing, movies, television specials, there wasn’t a shred of feeling like you’re watching someone punch the clock. She pulls you in whether you’ve had similar experiences or not through our common ability to be annoyed by other people. She makes giving into the funny inside everyday frustrations irresistible.
“Crowd work” has lately become a hot topic in stand-up comedy with plenty of proponents and detractors alike putting their opinions out there for debate. Crowd work is when comics address individual members of the audience as a way of either setting up a joke, mining for improvisational humor, or some other reason. All comics practice it to some degree, but few master it at Gold’s level. It is a marvel to watch Gold’s precise and highly-controlled crowd work. Rather than using it as any kind of crutch—please, she has volumes of material at her disposal—she uses it to create a sense of inclusion akin to community building, which sounds dry, but was brilliantly funny. From needling a mixed-religion, straight, married couple to repeatedly confronting a woman in the front row who refused to laugh, it felt beautifully organic.
Gold is the sole parent to two adult men. The title of the show, Your Mom’s Not Funny, is in reference to an intended insult hurled at her son during a crucial moment in a basketball game. His pithy and hilarious comeback, and another in response to her excitement over having a sandwich named after her at the NYC’s famed Carnegie Deli, is proof that Gold has nailed parenthood, too.
Everyone deserves to laugh this hard. Go!
Judy Gold performs in Your Mom’s Not Funny at the Post Office Cabaret, 303 Commercial St., Provincetown, Tuesdays and Sundays, 8:30 p.m. (except Sunday, Sept. 8, when the show is at 7:30 p.m.) through September 8, For tickets ($35 – $40) and information call 508.487.0008 or visit postofficecafe.net.
