Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore

Just saw Mario Cantone frenetically fill very close to ninety minutes with his manic one-man Broadway show (on a Showtime cable TV broadcast) and, while I personally enjoyed it all, I can well imagine he'd be more than a bit too much for some. This is one performer whose energy is close to exhausting, although he himself seems to have a limitless well of the stuff. He's a shamelessly funny comic genius who can be foul-mouthed and genuinely sentimental at one and the same time (talking about his extended Italian-American family, for instance) and he's pretty close to the male equal of Tracey Ullman in his ability to mimic famous personalities and others, with an amazingly flexible countenance and a vocal instrument that's frequently uncanny. He can sing pretty well, too, and his last act impersonation of Judy Garland is one of the best I've ever seen. He's quite merciless with his incarnations of some (his Julia Child had me in stitches), but one comes away with the feeling that he has a deep affection for all that is worthwhile in people and for the joy of living, as well.

Be forewarned, if you haven't ever been exposed to him before, you may find him more than over-the-top, but if you like an entertainer who has never heard of such a thing as an inhibition, then you might just be fabulously entertained.