The Big Bang

IT’S A BANG Dibbleand Braithwaite mix it up.

Aren’t anachronisms hilarious? That’s pretty much the sole message of Feuer and Graham’s little piece. It’s a show-within-a-show concept, where we in the audience are supposed to be potential investors being pitched a new Broadway musical by Feuer and Graham (played by Dibble and Braithwaite, respectively). The show the writers want to put up, also called The Big Bang, would be a 12-hour epic chronicling the entire history of civilization starting with… well, you get it. The writers envision a lavish production with 318 performers and 6,428 costumes, but for now it’s just the two of them using the knickknacks available in a borrowed apartment.

The supposedly improvised costumes would be funnier if the tchotchkes festooning the apartment set looked remotely believable; apparently, the homeowners attach elastic headbands to their fake fruit. The anachronisms extend to the show’s idea of humor, which is strictly 1940s Catskills: A cavalcade of cartoonish stereotypes is meant to pass for comedy. The slaves who built the pyramids are cast as kvetching Jews; Nefertiti is a sassy diva. If drunk Irishmen named Paddy or Italians who say “ba-da-bing” seem fresh and funny to you, this should be a riot. Otherwise, there’s nothing worthwhile here. There’s no book and no backstory to accompany the forgettable parody songs. And, a little sadly, most of the jokes are about as old as the titular event.—Kris Vire