DCist is not a family publication. Still, I probably can’t talk about too many of the stories told by Regie Cabico in Godiva Nights & One Night Stands here. Let’s just say I’ve got some new thoughts on what to do if I ever find myself in a spacious loft in Montreal with a hot Québécois and a pair of roller skates. I won’t soon think of the act of pushing around a shopping cart as I used to.

But there’a a lot more to Godiva Dates than random hookups, sex in bathrooms, and families in the Banff Mountains trying to get Regie Cabico to deflower their 18-year-old son. A lot more. The guy is an acclaimed spoken word artist and can fucking throw it down weaving hilarity and poignancy together. Cabico only sometimes unpacks his tales in that “poetry slam” style. His delivery varies, which keeps the entire hour or so fresh, and every line is poetic. His use of the whole stage, dance, and flowing transitions, which move smoothly from interaction with the audience to the next story, is a credit both to him and Matt Ripa’s direction of the show.

There’s an obvious thoughtfulness in the way Cabico strings words together for his performance poetry. Talking to him for a few minutes in real life makes it clear that it’s not just how he writes. He thinks in poetry and speaks with deep meaning; I want to take out my recorder to capture every quote he has to offer about the piece and its reflection of where he is in life. That means embracing and laughing about a one-night stand here and there — well, maybe more than here and there — while longing for something more in love and telling the story brilliantly. And hopefully he’s just beginning to — Cabico sees this show potentially as only Act I in a trilogy. It’s difficult describing the words of a poet and humorist of Cabico’s caliber and doing them justice. Let him speak for himself and check him out this weekend.

Remaining shows:
Saturday, July 27, 9:45 p.m.
Sunday, July 28, 2 p.m.
At Caos on F, 923 F Street NW
Get tickets here.