Review: ZehlSteen Think Pound – 10/28/08

It is my belief that real comedy doesn’t rely on extraneous factors such as props, fancy set designs, or in ZehlSteen Think Pound’s (ZSTP) case, an audience. I was one of the few people that was not deterred by “the threat of rain” (as member Matthew Zellman put it), and made my way to the Gene Frankel Theater on Tuesday, October 28th to watch New York’s self-proclaimed only sketch comedy troupe, ZehlSteen Think Pound, perform at their ”Spooktacular.” Right away I will give ZSTP loads of credit as they performed as enthusiastically and vigorously in a room of 10 people as they would in a room of 100 people. The mark of true amateur-professionalism. Although it was advertised as a Halloween show, and the group encouraged the audience to wear costumes (they promised surprises for the best costume), the ten-person audience all came as the person who just got off work or out of class. Despite this, the group was still cordial enough to give out free candy…we even got to hear that an audience member’s roommate hooked-up with Tampa Bay Ray Designated Hitter, Cornelius “Cliff” Floyd.

I have seen ZSTP around eight times now and I must say that they are improving and polishing up their act with every performance. In the past, I have left some ZSTP shows thinking to myself, “that had some really funny moments, but there was some crap I could do without.” However, I have left the last two ZSTP shows with a dry-throat due to excessive laughter (perhaps they should give out free water instead of preservative-laced candy).

The group started off their set with their only re-occurring sketch (to my knowledge), Peer Power! The peppy and caring, but explicitly neo-nazi Saturday morning children’s group. This time around Peer Power! was helping us decide on who to vote for by using oreos and hydrox (vegan and kosher friendly!). Peer Power! is enough to make anyone laugh and question their own political correctness at the same time. Peer Power! is true genius.

Thankfully, ZSTP is efficient enough to have a bunch of new sketches at every show. At the Spooktacular, I saw seven out of the nine sketches (on my list) for the first time. ZSTP also kept the show topical, a must in my opinion for any sketch comedy group. In addition to the election-themed Peer Power!, they had two Halloween themed-sketches: “Slutty Nurse” which was about a girl whose favorite holiday is Halloween because she is a slutty-nurse in reality and appears normal during Halloween; and “Zombie,” about a girl who is trying to break up with her recently turned Zombie boyfriend (but is unaware of this development). This sketch provided a great one-liner when the girl asked her boyfriend, “What do you like about me besides my body?” To which the zombie responded with “braaaaaiiinnnsss.” LOL’s all around.

ZSTP has something for everyone. They gave the trendy, computer-crazed youth something to laugh about with sketches about Dostoyevsky’s quest to create the greatest Facebook page ever and how Rick Roll is the perfect 80’s song to annoy your friends. They gave the 1990’s pop-culture aficionados (like you, Michael Ian Black!) laughter ammo with their own “Are You Afraid of the Dark” episode and their sketch about the 98 Degrees cover band that is trying to ditch their tone-deaf band member who is in the band to commemorate his wife that was eaten by a shark (“she dead”). ZSTP also gave the sports fan something to chew over with their trash-talking softball sketch. ZSTP even arrogantly showed off their technology skills with two videos: the executive, the product for the business man who has no time for the bathroom (“smells like success”); and the “baby holder” for the lazy American parent. It was incidentally funny to watch the group awkwardly try and drag the over-sized and outdated television set across the room.

Although I would rate their show an 8.5 out of 10, I was not impressed with one sketch. This was the Johnson and Longfellow sketch, where a man went on ajob interview only to discover that his prospective-boss has an erection sticking out of his pants. Then the boss made a bunch of sexual innuendos. I see why other people may find this hilarious, but it was a bit hackneyed for me.

ZehlSteen Think Pound is up and coming. They are settling into their own, finally starting to form their own identity on stage. They are figuring out what really works and what doesn’t. I am not an expert on the sketch comedy scene in New York City right now, but I do think that ZSTP should be on top of any New York Magazine “Best of Sketch Comedy” list. I expect good things in the future from this troupe. If this was a Baseball America publication, I would rank ZSTP in the top 5 of a very deep farm system, like the Florida Marlins. And they even have more personality than Hanley Ramirez. I would encourage everyone to check out their videos on youtube site http://www.youtube.com/user/ZehlSteenThinkPound, their myspace page http://www.myspace.com/zehlsteenthinkpound and to attend their “640 Math, 720 Verbal” on November 25 at the End Times Underground (24 Bond Street, Manhattan).

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Slutty Nurse