 3 Guys Naked
From the Waist Down
Minetta Lane Theatre, New York - 5 February, 1985.
Synopsis
This is the story of three stand-up
comics who play the comedy club circuit of Manhattan, come together
to form a team, and subsequently experience the fulfillment of
their wildest dreams and darkest nightmares.
The time: the 1980's, The Place: the Komedy Klub East. Ted Klausterman,
the M.C., is warming up the audience, explaining how he's a child
of the '60s who came of age in the '70s. ("It's like you
wanna be a hero and take all the money in the world and redistribute
it in alphabetical order and yet still afford that summer house
in the Hamptons.") but now in the
'80s, he's a self-proclaimed "deep guy" with the promise of greatness!
Ted then introduces Phil Kunin, a newcomer
to the comedy scene, who relates the New Yorker's dilemma of
how to get through a single day with both mind and body intact.
Interrupting both Ted and Phil's routines, another comedian,
Kenny Brewster wanders on stage and enacts silent depictions
of "The Kenny
Brewster Hall of Martyrs". First he hangs himself, then
he staggers across the stage covered with arrows, and finally
enters headless. The inexperienced Phil, thrown by the interruptions,
furiously stomps off the stage.
Ted finds Phil in the back alley of the club. Feeling trapped as an M.C., Ted
sees Phil as a potential partner. Phil, a law school drop-out whose girlfriend
is pregnant and wants to have the baby,
warms up to Ted, especially when Ted suggests that they break in on Kenny Brewster's
routine. Ted also believes they have a good chance of getting on the Johnny Carson
Show.
At The Last Stand-Up, another comedy club, Kenny
Brewster comes on stage to do his routine, a wild combination of
sound-effects, mime, and conceptual impressions, all within his
own secret world, a world that ranges from the silly to the macabre.
While Kenny continues his routine with the help of his ventriloquist dummy, Phil
and then Ted break in on him with their own dummies. Together for the first time,
the three guys discover they share similar sensibilities and aspirations.
At yet another comedy club, The Funny Farm, they
audition for the head talent scout for Johnny Carson, with a Gilbert
and Sullivan parody. Ted has convinced Phil and Kenny that this
is the best way to sell themselves.
In the middle of the number, Kenny, deep within his own world, wanders off, leaving
Ted and Phil, and the number falls apart. Later, alone in the deserted club,
Kenny tries to come to terms with his inner torments.
Ted, Phil and Kenny meet in Central Park where
Ted breaks the news that they have indeed earned a shot on the
Carson show. Overcoming Phil's doubts about Kenny's unpredictability,
Ted urges them on to reaffirm their new identity as a team.
As they fly to Los Angeles for what may be their first major break, Ted, Phil,
and Kenny decide not to do a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song on Carson as
expected, but something "outrageous" and "hanging
over the edge."
Act
Two opens on the Johnny Carson show, where, through
a spoof of the '50s, '60s and '70s, Ted, Phil and Kenny emerge
in the '80s making a serious statement clad only in their boxer
shorts.
They become an instant sensation.
They sign on to do a TV series called "Hello, Fellas" about undercover
cops. What they didn't know was that they would always be undercover in drag.
The show becomes Number 1 in the ratings and launches
them to TV superstardom. A television special and world tour follow.
And of course, they are always in women's clothes.
The fresh irreverent comics of the comedy clubs and the Carson
Show find themselves caught up in the whirlwind trappings of prime-time
TV success. Feeling that Phil and Kenny are drifting away from
him Ted tries to see himself on his own. Kenny comes perilously
close to becoming a real-life member of his own Hall of Martyrs.
Phil, however, is immediately brought back down to earth with the
birth of his son.
They are scheduled to do a "Hello Fellas" feature film,
but, realising they must try to break the "Hello Fellas" image,
the guys renegotiate their deal with MGM and do a movie with
their own material.
The movie is rejected by the public who prefer to
see them in drag and by critics who urge them to stick to television.
Kenny, who has been retreating further and further into his own inner reality,
says goodbye to a life and a world he no longer feels a part of.
With Kenny's death, the team is shattered. Ted decides to go
back to New York, and take stock of his life, knowing that he must
deal with the world, alone and without any illusions.
Phil stays in L.A. and continues as a prime-time
TV star in his own series, "Hello,
Comrade," about a CIA agent in Russia in drag.
In New York City, Ted opens up his own comedy club, called "Klausterman's" where
he can do what he does best and introduce young new comics along the way.
As the lights dim, Ted introduces a new comic. The show ends.
Another story begins.
Jerry Colker |
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