Sklarvelous!

• December 10, 2024

When a friend who just happens to be a genius schleps across the country to buy you a drink, you drop what you’re doing and make sure you take them up on it. At least that’s my mindset these days. Once we get ten days into a month, I’ll take any offer for any sustinence I can find.

But when that friend just happens to be on a path of redefinition, and invites you to see two stellar examples of it tell their own unique story in an even more unique style, the benefits of the open bar take a back seat to the benefit of the experience. And the experience of seeing comedians Randy and Jason Sklar live and in person was as welcome an experience as one can hope for these days, particularly at a time when comedy itself is at a crossroads.

Many comedians attempt to invest their audiences in their journeys in order to get laughs–journeys that are often not very personally relatable. When they’re successful, they can momentarily invest you, but unless you come from a foreign background or have lived in a particular city it’s difficult to come away with more than a fleeting appreciation. With THE BORN IDENTITY, a storytelling experience that debuted last night at the Lyric Theatre on Los Angeles’ hipster East Side, the identical twins take you on a journey that had them questioning if they really were who they thought they were–literally.

Turns out that when they were six weeks old, their overwhelmed mom, who dressed them in identical outfits on the way to a pediatrician’s office, just might have gotten them confused. It was a lot easier to do that then than it is now–now a month short of 53, Jason wears glasses, Randy has a moustache (or at least what he contends is one). It’s a specific experience that obviously can only happen to identical twins. But the experience of questioning who you really are is a lot more universal, and it is that message the permeates the ninety-ish minutes of sympatico banter that only two gifted performers with a lot of common DNA can produce.

And in the hands of our friend Evan Shapiro–you know, the media cartographer who never fails to get us to think by using research and data to stimulate us–the Sklars take us down the road they traveled to get to that point, a lifetime of shared angst and challenges of becoming sometimes reluctant parents and adults. If you’re a fan of alternative comedy from outlets such as MTV, Comedy Central and Showtime, you might recognize the Sklars from such myriad efforts as APARTMENT 2F, BATTLEBOTS and CHEAP SEATS. Sports fans might also know them as contributors to the wacky world of veteran talk show host Jim Rome. Like Shapiro, they also have an ability to take WTF datecdotes and spin them into provocative and often hilarious life observations. And by taking them into a world that gives us insight and appreciation on their parents, wives and children, we’re given tentacles for introspection into our own lives.

Even if you’re not a parent, you were once a child. Your parents likely tried to do their best; at least on occasion, most succeeded. By retelling some of the bizarre twists that allowed them to realize that themselves, Randy and Jason succeed in stimulating our own thought process on who we were supposed to be, who we are now and open minds to what we may yet become.

It’s Shapiro himself who provides further evidence via his ubiquitous LinkedIn feed when he was describing how he got to last night:

In 1990 I moved to NYC to be a writer and director.

I put those ambitions aside to focus on a career in Media Management.

After getting fired on my 50th birthday by Kabletown, I pivoted HARD into a new life as a creator.

Now I get paid to write everyday. And next week, I reemerge as a director!

Anyone who has been forced to pivot from a familiar path at any point can identify with Evan’s declaration. As he is evangelically reminding so many in his most recent posts, the media landscape is now inexorably moving toward one where content creators who provide authentic and relatable lenses to their audiences are emerging as the most stable, successful and reliable sources of what we must now more broadly define as entertainment. The networks and studios that folks like Evan and moi, and at times even Jason and Randy, have worked for are increasingly becoming less relevant and desirable. The one-time Viacom networks that employed the twins at various times are about to be folded into a business unit that includes CBS, as unlikely and at one point as unappetizing a combination as hamhocks and lox. Such is the business landscape we see a quarter-century into the 21st century. At least we’re still around to see it unfold, albeit from a distance. And as I was reminded last night, at this rate, that distance is a benefit.

THE BORN IDENTITY will perform twice more in Los Angeles this week before moving to San Francisco in February. Even without an open bar, it’s well worth an investment of your time. Actually, double the amount you might otherwise have considered.

Thank you, old friend and new ones, for a night that made me think as much it made me laugh. Not many comedians can produce two emotions at once. But I suppose identical twins would be capable of providing double the stimulation, no?

Until next time…