Patrick Combs is on a very challenging Bliss Journey. If it were judged solely on its degree of difficulty, it would be a 99 on a scale of 1 to 10. Mind boggling territory that few can relate to, starting with me, his best friend!
I know very little about this genre. I’ve only personally been to two solo performances. My first one was on Broadway about 20 years ago “Man 1, Bank 0”. The second one was “Cash Me If You Can” in 2019 in Toronto. Both performances featured my aforentioned best friend. Both were comedic performances and they had the desired effect - I laughed my ass off for ninety minutes.
How hard is it to write, produce, promote, direct, stage design, light design, visuals design, audio/soundtrack creation and perform your own one-person show? I had to do some research to figure it out. And who better for research than good ol’ Wikipedia?
You know what I didn’t find? Examples of our favorite Hollywood A-listers performing them. No George Clooney’s, Meryl Streep’s, Tom Cruise’s, Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington’s, Tom Hank’s, Kerry Washington’s, Michael B. Jordan’s or Robert De Niro’s.
Shoot, I at least expected to see Samuel L. Jackson on the list of solo performances. Dude has been in like 90% of all movies! Yet, no Samuel L. Jackson! Perplexing.
You know who is on the list of greatest solo performers? According to Wikipedia, the most famous Solo performers of all time include Spalding Gray, Rob Becker, Lily Tomlin, Andy Kaufman, Rod Maxwell, Lord Buckley, Eric Bogosian, Whoopi Goldberg, Jade Esteban Estrada, Eddie Izzard, John Leguizamo, Marga Gomez, Anna Deavere Smith, Bill Hicks, Brother Blue and Lenny Bruce.
If you have heard of more than three of these performers, I’m impressed. Five and I call bullshit!
Wow, based on this data set alone, it must be really freaking hard to create a one man show, let alone act in one. A-listers don’t even dare. And if you are thinking - Whoopi Goldberg is on the list. Yes she is, and she just so happens to be one of 18 entertainers to win the EGOT, which includes an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award. Clearly talented!
But WTF is a one-person show?
A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show or one-woman show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. They are 75-minutes on average.
Having first-hand knowledge of how hard my buddy is working for the premeir of his upcoming show “Trying To Break A Leg” November 30th in San Diego (think exhaustion with a triple layer of more exhaustion as icing on the cake), I thought I knew how hard it was. After reading about the history of solo performances on Wikipedia, I think different. I had no idea!
As Patrick’s best friend I should have sent massage therapists with flowers and a bottle of Clase Azul DAILY this month! But, then my mind really got blown! I scrolled a little further on Wikipedia to learn more about my friends degree of difficulty, and read this passage about the history of this genre.
“Still other shows may rally around a central theme, such as pop culture in Pat Hazel's The Wonderbread Years, relationships in Robert Dubac's The Male Intellect, the history of the New York City transit system in Mike Daisey's Invincible Summer, or fighting the system in Patrick Combs' Man 1, Bank 0. These themes could also be centered around a certain topic such as a political or social issue.”
Holy shit! My best friend is mentioned on Wikipedia for one of his solo performances!
I had no idea………but I do now! And so do all my friends on FB today!
Love you brother. You got this! And somebody is gonna need to update Wikipedia after your third one-man show premiers. They will need to add you to the list of All-Time Solo Performers, right between Spalding Gray and John Leguizamo.
