‘Oh, Hello’ about two New York racists: turns out it’s funny
Two elderly New York racists don’t normally draw a capacity crowd of mostly hipsters at the Herbst Theater, but “Oh, Hello,” the live version of a comedy sketch from John Mulaney and Nick Kroll is packing in skinny jeans like tuna.
[...] basically, “Oh Hello” is two pretty famous comedians pretending to be two failed New York baby boomers alternately introducing their lack of accomplishments and attempting to perform a dramatic work of their own creation.
Heavily laden with cultural references spanning the entire career of Alan Alda and entire product line of Clamato, Kroll and Mulaney play with an appreciative audience, many of whom are well-versed in “Oh Hello” humor.
The comedians don crummy gray wigs and well-worn corduroy pants with saggy pockets containing flip phones.
Kroll’s Faison, meanwhile, wears the leather bomber jacket of a man who attends eighth grade basketball games alone and with no connection to any of the players.
Noticing a couple of empty seats in the front row, Kroll and Mulaney seamlessly added a bit about Gavin Newsom and Ed Lee as no-shows.
A slightly confused mom was selected from the audience to join the two on-stage and act as a guest on their public access show filmed in a deli.
Faison and St. Geegland are clearly two 70-something Upper West Side theater nobodies who would write a play that indulged an extra 20 minutes of Clamato-mentions and a ballet dream sequence.
[...] once the play within the comedy show started to wrap up, the near-constant laughs returned and lasted through the collective audience dance at the end.