A Horse Walks Into a Bar

February 27, 2017
Grossman (To the End of the Land) masterfully balances the neuroses and hard-earned insight of veteran stand-up comedian Dov Greenstein with a defining memory that’s 40 years in the shaping. The story of Dov’s life—his worship of a mentally ill mother who survived the Holocaust, his contentious relationship with his father, his awkward adolescence, and a brief stay at a military camp in Gadna—unspools over one evening in a basement club in the small city of Netanya, Israel, related through the observations of Avishai Lazar, a boyhood friend of Dov’s and, later, a respected judge. As Dov immerses himself in his act, the audience—many of whom eventually walk out in bewilderment or anger at Dov’s deeply personal (and often decidedly grim) revelations—come to understand that, amid the self-deprecating humor and good-natured banter, the comedian is, for the first time, recounting the formative event of his life. “For an instant, when he looks up, the spotlight creates an optical illusion,” Avishai muses as he watches Dov discover what has lain hidden for decades, “and a fifty-seven-year-old boy is reflected out of a fourteen-year-old man.” Grossman wrestles with questions of faith and friendship, fate and family, with empathy, wisdom, and acerbic wit.

Israeli stand-up comic Dov Greenstein's schtick involves hurling fast-paced insults at his audience in frenetic, hysterical tones. Joe Barrett transcends genre as he delivers a performance that is at once painful, annoying, revealing, heartbreaking, and completely riveting. Barrett is incredible as Dov's screaming and self-punishment peel layers from his life, making his routine more autobiographical than comical. Dov plunges into tales of childhood abuses by classmates and his uncompromising father; his pathetic mother, a Holocaust survivor who barely survived; and his life-altering week at a military youth camp, which he was forced to attend. From Dov's childhood acquaintance, now a district court justice and a witness to Dov's explosive patter, to members of the uneasy audience, Barrett makes all the characters compelling. This is beautifully crafted, original, disturbing, and unforgettable listening. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine