Tingle Cracks Up The Armory!

Jimmy Tingle at The Armory. 

Jimmy Tingle made his way to Highland Avenue Saturday night for the first of two shows in the main hall of the Armory. Tingle will end his run tonight with a New Year's Eve show, doors at 7pm with a start time of 8pm. My suggestion is to grab a VIP ticket as it puts you in the front row, as well as, in a reception after the show catered by Red Bones.

In front of packed house on a snowy Somerville night, the show began with Tingle's American Dream documentary that took the comedian around the United States asking comedic and political notables to define the "American Dream" in their own terms. Names such as Bobcat Goldthwait, Senator Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo, and Director Robert Altman filled the hour-long video detailing what they thought the American Dream meant.

The documentary takes the audience through Tingle's journey as proprietor of his own theatre in Davis Square, touches on his family history and ends with a sad goodbye to his stage in Davis and utimately with his Commencement address at Harvard University in 2010, where Tingle, himself, received a Master's Degree. In total, the project took 7 years to complete and is filled with amazing footage of Tingle visiting historic locations in New York and Massachusetts. I won't be discussing what happens in the middle...you'll have to check out the documentary, yourself ;)

Following the showing, Tingle ran through the year's biggest headlines adding his own funny quipes and explanations as he tackled everything from the election to gun control and even a recent "expletive ban" in one Massachusetts town. Don't worry, it's not Somerville.

The audience was then invited to a question and answer period with Tingle. Questions such as, "What are you doing with your Harvard Degree?" and "How did the opportunity to interview Robert Altman come about?" were answered, some sarcastically, by the comedian. Moving along with the performance, Jimmy discussed his campaign for President on the Humor for Humanity ticket which led into a 30 minute standup routine that ended the evening.

For more information on the documentary, to buy a DVD of it or to book Jimmy, visit his website. There, you have access to his social media presence, as well as, You Tube and Vimeo videos of his performances.

Big congratulations to Jimmy and Jennifer Lawrence, Armory representative, who put the show together (advertisement and all) in just three weeks!