Chelsea Arts & Lifestyles Sex, lies, and a free t-shirt
Can you spot a liar? If so, George Carlin has a free t-shirt for you. Okay, it’s not really George Carlin. It’s Andy Christie, the Carlin look-alike and host of “The Liar Show” at The PIT, an improvisational comedy venue sandwiched between a Subway Restaurant and a porn shop on W. 29th Street. Once a month, four storytellers take the PIT stage to spin a tangled web. Three of them are telling the truth. One of them is lying. If you can figure out who the “Liar” is, you get the aforementioned free t-shirt. (Christie also claims that you will win $5,000 but that appears to be an exaggeration for comedic purposes. Or, if you prefer, a lie.) At a recent installment of “The Liar Show,” the charming Josh Lefkowitz shared a less-than-charming story of his pre-pubescent love affair with a teddy bear. Unfortunately for Lefkowitz (and the teddy bear) that love affair was consummated physically. Even more unfortunately, Lefkowitz was not lying about it. In this age of political correctness, you have to respect a man who can unapologetically confess to a live audience that he has engaged in bestiality with a stuffed animal. Next, Jeffrey Rudell twirled a yarn about breaking into a funeral parlor on a Halloween night in the distant past, in hopes of scoring with the town bad girl. He wasn’t lying either. Rudell’s explanation of his physical excitement in the presence of a naked — and deceased — male body may be the most disturbing Coming Out story this reporter has ever heard. The parade of prurience continued with the adorable Joanna Parson, the only female storyteller at the show, who confessed to her youthful crush on a serial murderer/rapist she met while working at a chicken farm. Parson was also the only performer who dressed for her story, wearing a hot pink Tina Turner t-shirt evocative of her youth. Her dead-on impersonation of a chicken was easily worth the $5 admission price. Thankfully, the fourth and final tale, told by James Braly, had no questionable content, just a good old-fashioned, family-friendly suicide. Braly, who resembles Christopher Lloyd from the “Back to the Future” films, is currently appearing in the Moth National Story Tour, and the polish showed in his effortless bond with the attentive crowd. By the time Braly’s story ended, the clock had already struck 9:30 p.m. and the audience for the next show was waiting to enjoy some live improv. So Christie, like the Pied Piper of Prevarication, led his attendees out to the lobby for some post-story analysis. Audience members grilled the storytellers on arcane details of their tales (How do you perform CPR on a baby?!) in hopes of catching them in a fib. But these were seasoned, professional “liars,” so the audience was left to decide for itself, which it did, in the form of a paper ballot. Finally the truth was revealed. It was Parson, whose giggly memoir of unrequited, serial murderer love turned out to be the tall tale. Four lucky audience members claimed their t-shirts, and then the rest went home and showered. It was that kind of night. If this sold-out installment of “The Liar Show” was any indication, Andy Christie has a true hit on his hands. The next show, scheduled for Monday, November 13, will feature former Amazon.com employee Mike Daisey, author of the acclaimed memoir “21 Dog Years.” Christie claims it’s going to be his best show yet. But, honestly, I wouldn’t believe a word that guy says.
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“The Liar Show”