Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Review of Jane Bond: Funny But Deadly at Laugh Out Loud Theater

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Jane Bond: Funny But Deadly. It was an improv comedy show based on James Bond movies with an all-female ensemble. At the beginning of the show they get a lot of suggestions on slips of paper for villain names, household objects, and places that they put in a huge martini glass. They create a theme song based on the movie title that someone who was picked from the audience made up. The night I saw it, it was When Paradise Dies, and it was about Jane Bond going to Iceland and trying to defeat a villain who I think was called Dr. Polka Disco, who wanted to kill her father Panic! at the Disco, but also is trying to turn everything into a discotheque. There's also a love interest, who was called Integrity when I saw it and had a cute little Icelandic giggle. So that gives you a general idea of how crazy this show can get. I think this show is a ton of fun. It has so many great nods to the wackiness of James Bond films and a hilarious cast. It was a really fun structure to see everyone play with and it was interesting and hilarious to see how the story would unfold.

There was a whole Panic! at the Disco joke train that I really enjoyed that was just basically them making references to songs that would make sense in the context of the conversation. That was really funny and everyone was bouncing off each other with another reference. It was just perfect. I loved both the villain's goons. They were really on top of it the night I saw it; they were taking cues really well and pushing the jokes in the right direction to get to the next plot point. There is this scene that I assume exists each week, where scientists are working on objects that turn into other objects for Jane Bond's next mission. The joke is that all these household objects turn into other not very useful household objects, instead of spy gear. I thought that was a really fun twist on the original films. Jane Bond's girlfriend in Iceland
is very meek and adorable and doesn't really seem to understand how not to get killed. And whenever the bad guys would grab her she would just say, "No no no no no no" and start putting her hands in front of her mouth. I was laughing my head off.

People who would like this show are people who like James Bond spoofs, martini glass suggestions, and useless spy gear. I think that people should go see this show. It was so hilarious and had some amazing performances and great character work. I really liked it.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi Ada, my name is Ben St. John. I created and directed Jane Bond. Thank you very much for coming to see the show and taking the time to write about it!