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Friday, June 17, 2005
Leslie Jordan’s ‘Like a Dog on Linoleum’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW: “Like a Dog on Linoleum.” Through July 10.
Before you hear anything else about Leslie Jordan’s show “Like a Dog on Linoleum,” know this: It is grandly, side-splittingly funny, on a par with the very best stand-up comedy. It is also moving, charming and full of universal truths.
Keep that in mind, because the appeal of “Dog” can seem a bit limited at first blush. Jordan is one of those “oh, yeah, that guy” actors you’ve seen over and over (“Will & Grace,” “Boston Public,” “Ally McBeal”) —- a fey little fellow with sweet comic chops. “Dog” is a one-man show he wrote and performs about his life, much of it dealing with various ramifications of his opening line: “I am the gayest man I know.”
He is also a very talented writer, spinning out his life with the pitiless observational powers of a David Sedaris, but making it all flow like a spontaneous late-night confessional. Jordan understands the Southern art of comic-sad storytelling at a cellular level.
Born and raised in Chattanooga, Jordan spent some young adult time debauching his way through Atlanta’s gay demimonde before heading for Hollywood in the 1980s. He’s pretty candid about his past substance abuse problems (if it could be abused, he abused it), which led to five arrests and eventually a stint in the Los Angeles jail. Fearing what would happen to someone like him in prison, he was delighted to discover that the inmates get HBO and had been watching repeated airings of the 1990 goofball comedy movie “Ski Patrol, ” in which Jordan had the fourth-billed part. He’s a star!
Although most of the show is gayer than a pink leather pinata, in Harvey Fierstein’s memorable phrase, anyone who’s had a life, straight or gay, can relate to Jordan’s stories: wanting to please a parent, making horrendous love-life choices (again and again), figuring out there’s more to life than superficial pleasures, losing faith and recovering it. If he gets a little self-indulgent toward the end, when the life lessons start to outweigh the comedy, there’s also the feeling that he’s earned it, both in the life he’s lived and the way he recounts it.
THE VERDICT: Hilarious, honest and so sure-footed it’s the opposite of what the title says.
THE 411: “Like a Dog on Linoleum.â€? 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Through July 10. $40 and $50. 14th Street Playhouse, 173 14th St., Atlanta. 404-733-4750. Tickets available at box office and www.brotherboy.com.
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