Even before our scatterbrained, ADHD world began over-prescribing Ritalin, we giggled at Steven Wright‘s one-liners on SNL during the ‘80s. If you’re like us, maybe you even stayed up late into the night listening to albums like I Have a Pony. His brand of comedy, as something of an intellectual punster, appealed to us as kids just as much as it does today. Jokes like, “I was walking in the woods all by myself. A tree fell down right in front of me and I didn’t hear a thing,” or, “I put my instant coffee in a microwave — I nearly went back in time,” are typical of his lines — they don’t make any sense, except in that they make perfect sense.
Wright’s eight-second or so “jokes” may be closer to nonsensical non-sequitors, but his status as a hero of cult film is unparalleled—over the past twenty years he’s appeared in Reservoir Dogs, Half Baked, So I Married an Axe Murderer, and so on. That groggy voice and deadpan delivery haven’t changed over the last two decades, and besides the growing bald spot — covered with a classy fedora in the DVD– neither has that trademark frizzy, shoulder-length hair. His first TV comedy special in 16 years aired on Comedy Central last October, and was released as a 78-minute DVD a couple months ago. Since then he’s been on tour, starting on the West Coast, with his penultimate stop here at the Warner Theatre. (Atlantic City this weekend is his very last one).
While some lines from his current act might sound familiar, the majority are brand new. Be prepared for some Internet jokes. (Oooh…tingling feeling inside. Speaking our language, Steven.) He admitted in a Newsweek article that “when you’re hearing something over and over, it just gets in your head. You hear e-mail, that word, several times a day. This is my theory: your subconscious starts working on a joke but you don’t even know it.” Something tells us Steven Wright’s subconscious works a little differently than most people’s — which is exactly the reason why it’s worth it to catch his act tomorrow.
Steven Wright’s “When the Leaves Blow Away” will begin at 8 p.m. on Friday at the Warner Theatre, located at 13th St. between E & F Sts. NW. Tickets can be purchased through the Box Office (202-783-4000) or Ticketmaster.
