Steve Solomon is your perverted uncle that tells dirty jokes at the family picnic. He’s your cousin-twice removed that tells embarrassing stories at your graduation.  Steve Solomon is one, racy, funny guy…well, at least he was 30 years ago.  The jokes that Solomon tells in his one-man show, My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish, and I’m in Therapy (which, by the way, isn’t a title but a sentence) are so old that they walk with a cane.

Nonetheless, this show is a warm safety blanket, a glass of warm milk, and grandpa’s worn sweater of comedy.  As I looked around the audience, people were mouthing the punchlines as he spoke them and turning to their friends all the while, nodding and rolling their eyes.  Solomon’s show isn’t comedy.  It’s shtick and that’s saying something because shtick hasn’t been in style… well, since his jokes were new.  Solomon strikes a careful balance between groan-inducing lechery and poignant tenderness. His ability to embody the different characters—their different accents and mannerisms is solid probably from doing it for years at those family picnics.  Solomon is a natural storyteller and his characters are so vivid that the audience is with him every step of the way.  In many ways, his stories are the stories of Everyman, since Everyman has a family that drives him completely bananas.  However, not everyone writes a show about it.

“My Mother’s Italian…etc” it is one of the longest running one-man shows in Broadway history.  No surprise considering the large Jewish and Italian population in New York. Solomon is taking his show on the road and told the audience in the epilogue of sorts that the reception has been fantastic.  This is also no surprise. Anyone who is a recent immigrant or a few generations removed will appreciate the ethnic humor.  It was fun to look at the audience to watch who laughed at the “Jewish” jokes and who laughed at the “Italian” jokes and who left altogether.  Oh yes, some people couldn’t take the grandfatherly crudeness and left at intermission.

This was a good show and the laughs were plentiful.  Andiamo-Novi also has some great deals for dinner and show that are pretty affordable.  Their fall and winter line-up is pretty exciting.  In a world of everyone trying to be the next thing with an edge, it’s nice to see a classic in all of it’s faded glory.

Check out Andiamo’s website for the latest news on the restaurant and theater: http://www.andiamoitalia.com/novi.

Author: Yana Levovna