Fans of late night shows such as the Daily Show or Tosh 2.0 may finally have their live stage equivalent in Little Rock. We stepped out to the first showing of TL:DR (which stands for too long, didn’t read) last Thursday at the Joint in Argenta.
The show’s premise is covering popular local and national news items that most people did not take the time to read, and then making jokes about each. During the roughly two and a half hour show they featured segments on local news, national news, videos, a quiz portion, an interview portion, and a “lightning round” where a topic was thrown out and each member took turns making jokes.
The group was made of 5 “panelists” who are mostly regulars at the Joint’s Hogging the Mic stand up series including Levi Agee, Ozzy Jackson, Shawn Hipskind, Josh Ogle, Laura Chesser, and Clint Travis Jackson. The show also featured an interview session with Forbidden Hillcrest’s Paul Carr.
For the panelists, Ozzy Jackson clearly stole the show. He easily generated the most laughs and left most of the audience wanting just an Ozzy standup session. The other panelists were mixed results throughout the show. Laura was funny, but quiet. Ogle, Clint Travis, and Levi had their moments. The host, Shawn Hipskind, felt the most uncomfortable with the format, frequently falling flat on several jokes.
According to Agee, who is behind much of the creation, the panelists will rotate depending on availability and who is better in for the format. And while there was a lot to love about the format, which was the first showing, several parts will be adjusted.
I think obviously making it shorter, less topics, more focused banter. Shorter interview section,” Agee says. “We really didn’t put any parameters on the first show so now we want to give ourselves time limits and push ourselves to have more jokes faster.”
The changes should carry the show, which hopes to become monthly every first Tuesday, a quicker consolidated format which was what we felt was missing from the first showing.
Overall the show is a welcome addition to the Little Rock comedy scene, one that could easily serve as a gateway to people to become introduced to a wide variety of comedians who are already doing standup. The next show is April 2nd at the Joint for $7 cover.
