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Looking for some quality comedy entertainment to check out?
Who better to turn to for under-the-radar recommendations than comedians?
Julie Klausnerhas the YouTube algorithm to thank for her obsession with Horowitz & Spector.
I know the word cult is overused, Klausner says, but it was a cult sensation.
Horowitz & Spector appeared onStairway to Stardomfor two songs: Boiled Chicken and Somethings Rotten in Transylvania.
It just hit home a little too hard.
Otherwise, it centers the critic too much.
You have to be like, This isnt being talked about enough!
and not just I want to talk about this!Thats a great point.
Its nice to remind people what incredible things werent hits at the time.
It didnt do well.
What made them perfect for you?
These two women, theyre mad as hell, and theyre not gonna take it anymore.
And the song ends with them burning their Jane Fonda workout tapes.
The combination of 80s-ness and East Coast specificities is intoxicating.
At one point, they mention that theyre going to eat Charlotte Russe.
I had to look that up.
I was like, Yeah, me too!
I love it when they say …
I dont think they say theyre gonnakilltheir diet doctor, but they call him a skinny SOB.
You know that theres a reality in which that guy does end up dead.
I love how they call potatoes taters.
At one point, they just decided thats what potatoes were called.
It helps with the scansion, Im sure.The scansion is superb.
Their pitch is superb, and it is very clear.
And shes really, really good at what shes doing.
The choreography is simple.
It punctuates the jokes.
I would also praise their diction.
You understand every word.
Their timing, I love it.
I was like, No, this is Diet Coked up.
If anything, this is Dexatrim.
But theyre high on food; lets be clear.
The way Spectors like Tofu!
they say it as though tofu is the most disgusting thing in the world.
And the truth is, it was just the 80s.
They werent afraid of carbs.
They thought blandness was healthy.
Its actually connected to the Kellogg philosophy of, like, Spicy food is gonna make you masturbate.
As recently as 2019, she was doing live shows.
Shes a fixture in New York cabaret.
Shewrote a bookabout life over 50 fabulous.
Just one of those terrific New York City Jewish women that youre just so glad to see.
She seems like somebody who would bring the party wherever she went.
I saw some of her later solo shows that are up on YouTube.
Theres an entire one-hour set of hers up.Yeah, I watched a few of those during the pandemic.
Shes really beautiful and super-talented, fun, and funny.
I dont think theres a world in which you dont punch that.
Unless you are like, you know, allergic to joy.
That song is not as clear.
I think Boiled Chicken is definitely more linear.
Hes having a midlife crisis.Theres the midlife crisis, and also, Is the spark gone in our relationship?
But what I think is most important about it is that its two women wearing the same costume.
That is funnier than I think most people know.
Id love to see more of their double act.
Is it about being kosher?
Who among us cannot relate to that experience?
This is patriotism, what Im feeling.
Im so proud to be related to that specific kind of Jewish person.
That is what is so special about seeing those two women at the center of everything.
Theyre not Carole Bayer Sager providing material for someone else.
Theyre under the spotlight and thank God.
Its about the health-food restaurant at Bloomingdales.
Melba toast and raisins and everything.
For me, the subject matter meets the format.
Silence really just came to me.
Tell me all about freaking Buffalo Bill.
I just thought that would be really stupid.
So I called my friendEli Bolin, whos a composer, and hes brilliant.
I said, Do you want to write this fake Kate Bush song with me?
It became, conceptually, What if Kate Bush had written aSilence of The Lambsmusical?
So I went back and looked at all of her lyrics.
Im a big Kate Bush fan, so it wasnt a chore to do that.
But I realized that she sings a lot about body functions.
She has this song calledBreathing.And she has a song calledMoving.And theres a lot of like …
Dancers love breathing, Ill tell you that.
I did very much appreciate the Kate Bush choreo choices that you made.Thank you so much.
That is my friend Jeremy Laverdure, whos an incredibly talented dancer, as my cartwheel stand-in.
Someone complimented me on my cartwheel today, and I did not correct them.
He was really worried.
Anyway, thats not me.
Thats the Vulture scoop.
I pride myself on my gotcha journalism.I know.
But I did everything else.
I did all the spins and stuff.
What was that about?Kate Bush, love her.
Shes got body functions and mother.
Mother is huge for Kate.
Her falsetto is almost like drag in its pitch.
Its the performative, femme, operatic, Pre-Raphaelite prog masterpiece.
She is like nobody else.
She choreographed all of those early videos.
She worked with that mime who worked with Bowie.
Theres just so much fascinating, cool stuff about her.
I really think shes a sorceress.
And I was hoping when all of a sudden people got into clowning, that mime would be next.
But I dont feel like its coming.People wont shut the fuck up.
