Mr. Napkins rocks Hoosac Harbor

If the audience at the Wednesday, April 4 Comedy Stop were thrown off by the distinctly un-comedic sounds emanating from the speakers as they walked in, the answer could be found: Mr. Napkins' assertion that this was a "hip-hop comedy show." It's strange that that combination of styles fused together so well in the hands of the Beta Males, the brand new act created by Mr. Napkins (Zach Sherwin) and DJ Yamim (Ben Epstein). In fact, the act is so new that this article is their "first publicity." During the pre-show, DJ Yamim entertained the audience with his inventive mixing. He switched rapidly from a pretty consistent run of hip-hop to the 'Violent Femmes' "Blister in the Sun." But as the song progressed, the audience noticed a weird swooshing sound that turned out to be "Drop It Like It's Hot" by Snoop Dogg. Once the show began and Mr. Napkins started to speak, Yamim set the beat for his words. Before Mr. Napkins was introduced, the crowd in Hoosac Harbor was warmed up by Kyle Ploof, a regular performer at the Comedy Stop. He seemed disappointed by the number of laughs he didn't get. After a joke about the Yankees not deserving another win, he said, "In Boston that gets huge laughs, here it's like--" then made the sound that indicates a plane crash. Ploof ceded the stage to Mr. Napkins. The audience that had been unreceptive to him was very quickly drawn in by the way Mr. Napkins quirkily blended comedy and hip-hop, combining intelligent but still slightly brutal rap with quite a bit of self-deprecating humor. Napkins used slides (yes, slides, they can be funny) to illustrate his path through these twin worlds. The audience learned that he was the son of a rabbi who had been "brought up on a steady diet of Raffi, the Beatles and 'Free to be You and Me.'" He was given a Naughty by Nature CD one year for Channukah, and so began his journey. Matisyahu he is not. At this point in his story, he showed a picture of himself as a kid in '91. Frizzy-haired, holding a fluffy cat- the picture of wholesomeness. Then he flashed to a Naughty by Nature album cover and said, "You'll notice a few differences between the two pictures you've just seen. Here, he is holding a gun..." He moved to his picture again, "...and here I am…holding a cat." We also learn through the use of slides and monologue that he made a short appearance on VH1's "The White Rapper Show," which provoked a female audience member to yell, "So cute!" Napkins ducked his head and bemusedly answered, "For this audience." Despite his cuteness, he wasn't one of the finalists chosen, but VH1 was kind enough to air him saying the words "butt-wipe," which had nothing to do with the rest of that particular rap. He was kind enough to give us the whole, non-TV tailored version. To hear that one, or his other raps (perhaps the one about the "sexy vexing thespian" who was "frontin' on him," or the one about getting stopped by a cop while riding a bicycle), you can listen to them all on his Web site (myspace.com/mrnapkins). Listen and you'll get an idea of the show and performer that you hopefully didn't miss.

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