This Saturday, March 19th, BEE FUNNY, the comedy show that tests comedians spelling prowess brings on the funny at The Hollywood Improv. BEE FUNNY pits top comedians against each other in an arena only the very brave dare enter, the SPELLING BEE. The headlining spot is awarded to the spelling superstar that fairs the best against their comedic opponents. One lucky and random audience member will compete alongside the comedians, and if proclaimed the winner, will choose the headliner. Eeek! You will see amazing standup from
Ed Galvez
Heather Jewett
Faith Choyce
Tony Sam
Jen Saunderson (formerly Seaman)
hosted by Susanna Lee
judged by Guy Branum
Not convinced yet? Well, read the dazzling review from our writer, Sarah Dopson, who attended the show way back in 2015. Yes, it’s tardy but some things are better late than never. Remember, good things come to those who wait or something like that. Enjoy!
I’m not gonna lie I love a good spelling bee. In fact, I’ve passed Stellar Speller, and I reside at full on Grammar Snob. I even proofread my college roommate’s English papers for free (I could’ve been rich!). So, I have to say Bee Funny started out with some major cool points.
First off, show creator Susanna Lee is the bee’s knees (pun intended). If you don’t know, she’s been in the stand up game for 20 years (not that she looks a day over 25). And, like myself, she has double passions, comedy and speaking correctly.
So, let me stop geeking out and get to the show. What you have is a good old-fashioned spelling bee. That’s right; the results of the spelling bee determine who gets the headliner spot (Finally, life is fair!). Each comic, along with a chosen audience member, tries to out-spell the other. If the audience member wins, he/she chooses the headliner.
So, who was in this thing, and how’d I do? Well, the lineup consisted of Baron Vaughn, Scout Durwood (lost first, misspelled acquaintance), Byron Bowers (can’t spell sophomore), James Fritz (lost on belligerent). The Spelling Bee was judged by none other than Guy Branum, who served as a snarky, colorful commentator (We need more of these!)
Long story short, the audience member won and chose Byron Bowers to headline. In the meantime, the other comics really brought it down.
First up was Scout Durwood and her ukelele. In her unique, quirky style she explained her thoughts on dinosaurs and her encounters with the ignorance in society. In an effort to educate the masses, she explained lesbian sex as “gears on a wheel,” in a pretty kickass song.
James Fritz, who hails from Kentucky, was next. He was going through a breakup, so I’m going to say his set was the deepest. Reflecting on some of the tones from home, i.e. an abundance of pro-life billboards and auto parts ads( This West Virginia girl knows.), he reflected on the culture shock a trip home might induce. A bit of culture shock on the Los Angeles side of things- Fritz claims Hollywood cops are too attractive. In fact, he called for more fat, rugged “real” cops. As much as I can relate James, I veto this motion.
So, then came Baron Vaughn who touched on being the self-professed “Abraham Lincoln for crickets,” for killing the spiders in his apartment. Vaughn’s crickets relayed him by giving free nightly “Cricket Concerts” in is apartment. The connoisseur of bugs gave some insight into the lives of other insects, calling Wasps “unemployed with a weapon” and lamenting that he couldn’t kill bees, not because of pesticides killing them off, but because they’re always working a double shift.
Byron Bowers then took the stage and closed with a hardcore bang (pun intended again). The “recently turned feminist” described sex with a dominant woman. Bowers’ life changing sexual encounter with a take-charge woman resulted in his head-butting her (we hope lightly), as he’d seen in a wildlife documentary. Other types of sex in experience have included “York Peppermint Patty Sex” and sex comparable to Golf (sounds exhilarating). He then touched on the joys of his “mother blessing he and his sister with different fathers.” Honestly, Bowers lived up to being the headliner here, as he turned some really deep stuff into solid jokes, with great grace.
If you have a chance to catch any of these comics, do it. This was one of the most consistently funny shows I’ve seen in a while. If you have a chance to catch a Bee Funny Show, you should absolutely do that. Susanna Lee knows what she’s doing, and frankly, it beats the hell out of a word-of-the-day calendar.
Mentions: Doors 11pm. Show 11:30pm. Get your 2-for-1-tix HERE. Code: BEE. The Hollywood Improv is located at 8162 Melrose Ave Los Angeles, CA.
CakeMama