The old cliché about the sad clown is an enduring one for good reason.  We cannot help but love those unhappy fools with their merry, painted faces, tricks, and perhaps a one-liner or two to mask their true hurt deep inside.  Stand-up comedian David Lee Nelson reveals his painful interiors while offering clever comedic observations in his David Lee Nelson…Status Update as a part of Water Tower Theatre’s Out of the Loop Fringe Festival. 

Written by and starring Nelson, and directed by Adam Knight, the show is more a tragicomic performance piece than a conventional stand-up routine.   Prerecorded video vignettes of Nelson begin and pop up throughout the play.  These videos offer short anecdotes and observations on his marriage, which we soon learn is no more – its finality driven home by Nelson’s references to his wife in the past tense with a somber and poignant tone.

Between these filmed, confessional style interludes, Nelson, dressed in corduroy jacket, jeans, and jaunty bow tie, steps up to the microphone to offer snippets of a fairly conventional, if witty and hip, observational comedy material.  His delivery is purposefully anxious, full of awkward pauses and darting eyes.  Think of the nervous quirkiness of a young Andy Kaufman.

The comedy, which hits on the topical themes of pop culture, television, drinking and drugs, cell phones, technology, porn, food trends, and especially navigating relationships in the age of Facebook could stand on its own; however, the bittersweet nature of the videos present a complete play.   The natural and wistful Mr. Nelson in the short films is in stark opposition to the cheery comedian with stage makeup trying to maintain a tenuous grasp on his comedic soul.  Or is it a revelation?

Repeats Tuesday, March 8