It was not a good time for George W. Bush on campus last Friday night. Of course, some would argue that it is never a good night for George W. Bush at Wesleyan. In the chapel, former presidential candidate Ralph Nader and singer/activist Patti Smith spoke out against the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. Across campus in the Center for the Arts a little-known but big-voiced comedienne, Reno, sounded off on all aspects of Bush, 9/11, and American society.
Reno, who goes by only one name a la Madonna, is an experienced comedienne. During her show “Reno: Rebel without a Pause,” Reno spent two hours regaling the occupants of the CFA Theater with her views on both the mundane and the political. From Martha Stewart to the History Channel, from the plural of mongoose—“mongooses or mongeese?”—to Zen , WASPs, and having kids, no topic was safe from her wrath. Also a political activist, she peppered her social commentary with political ideology and reflections on her experience on September 11, 2001, as a resident of a street a few blocks from the Twin Towers. The filmed version of the show received the Florence Peace Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2002.
The CFA’s press release referred to Reno as “the opinionated, quirky comedian who made a name for herself with her heavily-improvised monologues” and The New York Post called her “unpredictable, inventive, and uncensored.” Both of these are apt descriptions of the frenetic lovechild of Bette Midler, Robin Williams, Margaret Cho, and Janeane Garafalo whose clearly off-the-cuff humor included significant riffing on Middletown, which she claimed is all about the status-quo and avoiding extremism.
“Middletown, right in the middle. Edgetown? No, no, we don’t anyone to disagree with us. Lowtown? No. Hightown, get-hightown? Not in my town.”
Althoug her roundabout style of speaking included a heavy dose of “um”s and “uh”s, which may have gotten some people lost, she seemed to exert perfect control over her audience. She deftly moved from goofy jokes about collies driving cars, which had most of the audience laughing raucously, to more introspective thoughts on the events of 9/11 that left the theater absolutely silent.
The crowd lacked a large student turnout, probably due to the wild popularity of Nader and Smith, who were speaking at the same time across campus. At one point Reno joked that “Patti Smith is much more famous than me,” but the students that did come to see her perform seemed to enjoy the show.
“She was very original and energetic and hit on serious topics with humor,” said Rebecca Gordon ’06.
“It was absolutely wonderful,” agreed Faraneh Carnegie ’05.
When asked why they chose not to go see Nader speak instead, some students expressed disdain.
“I’ve already heard what Nader has to say, why hear it again?” asked Owen Albin ’07.
“I think [Reno] is really passionate. She actually does what she says, not like Nader” said Gloria Lee ’05.
With such a quirky, unique performance, however, there was bound to be differences in opinion.
“Reno was horrible, not funny,” said Janie Stolar ’08. “Let me think of a nice way to say it. Her humor seemed to appeal to the older Middletown residents, but for me and my friends, it was torturous. At points it verged on being so bad it was good, but not quite. I don’t recall laughing once.”
A comment Reno made toward the end of the show about free thought and the first amendment suggests that as long as she got people thinking, she would consider herself a success. Whether you were laughing or not, Friday night’s performance was definitely thought provoking.
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