While Drowning in the Desert

June 3, 1996
In yet another slapstick mystery, Neal Carey (A Long Walk Up the Waterslide, 1995) is driving across the Nevada desert with the aging, legendary comedian Natty Silver yakking his vaudeville shtick nonstop. Neal is taking Natty home to California from Vegas, but a couple of no-goodniks are after Natty, and the old man won't say why. Chaperoning Natty is hard--he won't shut up, except when he tries to get away and get laid. The bad guys are Heinz, a German money-launderer, and his Lebanese sidekick, Sami, who's dumber than wood. Meanwhile, Neal's girl, Karen, is in a raging hurry for marriage and motherhood; and Hope White (billed as "The Great Hope White"), a Vegas performer no longer as young as she once was, is rekindling an old torch for Natty. The principal players take turns hogging the narrative, and soon everyone converges for the big dramatic showdown, with the damsels predictably imperiled by Heinz. Okay. Maybe it's not that dramatic. Winslow's style isn't flashy, and his notion of suspense is downright laughable. Yet he has a way with crisp dialogue (or, in Natty's case, monologue), and the laughs keep coming. Neal isn't a tough guy, but he's pretty lucky. Lucky enough to find water in the sand and ferry the irascible Natty, who claims to have taught a young Lou Costello "Who's on First," to safety.

Soon after Neal Carey gets a call sending him on a private eye "errand" involving an aged comedian, the case gets a little silly. That's also when it starts to get interesting. Joe Barrett's narration has the typical noir sound at first but quickly shows that he--and Carey--also have stand-up chops. His narration of bits like Carey's first-person ramble about the names of Vegas hotels is hilarious. Later on, the story is told from other perspectives--including those of Carey's fiancÄe, the comedian's old flame, a lawyer, and an insurance representative. Barrett lays it on thick with voices for each. Listeners will laugh aloud at the carefully constructed farce. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine