This is my third year of blogging about my impressions of the Saskatoon Fringe, and my friend Natasha's third year of "fostering" Fringe performers. This year, her billet is the same person who she had last year: Barry Smith, of Jesus in Montana and this year's American Squatter.

I read the review of Barry's play in today's Star Phoenix, but had already been planning on seeing it because 1) Barry is staying with Natasha and 2) I liked last year's show.

A TRIP FROM SPOTLESS TO FILTHY
Joanne Paulson, The StarPhoenix
Published: Friday, August 01, 2008
American Squatter
Aspen Comedy Works
The Backstage Stage

Rating: 3

Retrospect is much easier when you have albums full of photos and reels full of video memories.

Barry Smith has compiled his into a history of rebellion, starting in the Mississippi Delta, flowing through Southern California, and then on to London, England . . . where the squatting really happened.

The Colorado storyteller's father was a clean freak, so much so that his sons spent every weekend scouring the family home. Eventually, escape came in the form of skateboarding, punk rock, too much LSD -- and finally, a bizarre trip overseas.

Every point in Smith's journey is accompanied by those visual family memories: Babyhood pix, skating videos, dad obsessively cleaning up Christmas wrap. The pictures of squatting with strangers in London are quite, well, disgusting. This trip, as he points out, travels from spotless to filthy, and is accompanied by a mild epiphany to tie it all together.

Smith can tell stories, although you are always hoping to find a wider point. The multi-media presentation saves Smith from having to add blocking. Fortunately, his verbal delivery is interesting, if not riveting.

Self-absorption does achieve critical mass, as Smith points out himself -- but the monologue manages not to replicate the anguish of a too-long-tale told by your airplane seat mate.

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008

Barry gave a good performance again this year, and I'm looking forward to his next multi-media monologue: Barry Smith's Baby Book: A Grown-Up Comedy About Stuff. The one thing that really strikes me about Barry is, for a guy who was perpetually high and transient for many years, he has sure kept some copious records. You'd think things would get lost and forgotten, or the guy just wouldn't bother.

Apparently, I am not the only one:

Often, after a performance of my multi-media comedies "Jesus In Montana" and "American Squatter," people will ask me, "Who saves that stuff?" They're referring to all the old family photos and videos and audio recordings and other miscellaneous items and objects that project on a screen during the show.

At first I didn't understand this question. I mean, doesn't EVERYONE save this stuff? How could you not?

I started saving stuff at an early age. One day I came home from first grade to find that my mother had thinned out my rapidly growing collection of "See Spot Run" papers. She did this by taking them out back and burning them. This was the Mississippi Delta in the early 70s, and that's how people dealt with trash - they took it out back and burned it.

I was devastated. I still am. I vowed on that day to never throw anything away, to spend my life building a grand collection of stuff, thus allowing me to fully know myself. Some men are known by their deeds. I, it seems, prefer to be known by my stuff.

The closest I came to anarchy today was parking my car infront of the "ROAD CLOSED" sign on 19th in front of the theatre ... but even this caused me a large amount of anxiety I would emerge to find a weighty ticket or my car towed. Only the greater fear of ridicule by the Fringe volunteers who assured me everyone was parking every where and my total laziness and cheapness stopped me from parking on the street or in a pay area.

I also ran into Natasha's former "foster performer", Greg Landucci, who was in Saskatoon in 2006 with his play Dishpig, and is back after a year of touring other Fringe festival cities to present Mr. Fox. As long as Greg never runs out of crappy job experiences, he is set for life for material.

I plan on seeing Greg's show, too, because 1) Greg stayed with Natasha, 2) Greg once bought me liquor and 3) if Mr. Fox is anything like Dishpig, it will be really funny.

Because Greg once bought me liquor, I greeted him with a warm, "Hey, Greg! How have you been?". Once I told him who I was, we got re-aquainted ... not that we really ever knew each other to begin with.
Good times!

Greg and Barry are both at The Backstage Stage (a.k.a.: The Persephone Theatre). It gave me a chance to check out the new building, but as a Fringe venue, it is apparently pretty crappy, because the performers are so far away from the other plays, the buskers and the crowds.

Barry's remaining shows are:

Saturday, August 2nd at 6PM
Sunday, August 3rd at 2PM
Monday, August 4th at 4PM
Wednesday, August 6th at 8PM
Friday, August 8th at 6 PM
Saturday, August 9th at 2 PM

Greg's remaining shows are:

Saturday, August 2nd at 8PM
Sunday, August 3rd at 12PM
Tuesday, August 5th at 2PM
Wednesday, August 6th at 4PM
Thursday, August 7th at 6PM
Friday, August 8th at 8PM