Randy Feltface is a comic act that involves a purple puppet. It’ll take you a minute to deal with the fact that this puppet makes better eye contact and has better comedic timing than you do, and you’re an actual person. Awkward.
The artist behind the puppet is Australia’s Heath McIvor. I’ve been a fan of his work for five or six years and couldn’t tell you what he looks like. It’s better that way. You can lose yourself in the fucking whimsy. The woman sitting next to me had been having a terrible time keeping optimistic during present times and said that this show was the one thing that she’d been holding onto – just something wonderful to look forward to, and 90 minutes during which no one has to do anything but laugh. And groan on occasion. Especially about the Fortnite patch lady.
This is the part of the Feltface genius that we love so much. In suspending our disbelief for the length of the show, we get to go back to Sesame Street, except it’s 10pm and all the kids have gone home. It’s playtime for the grownups. Which sounds more risqué than I meant, but you get it. Puppets are still a sign that you’re in a safe space, turns out.
It also turns out that Randy Feltface loves St. Louis; he returns here often. If you weren’t lucky enough to catch his sets at Helium Comedy Club this weekend, he has tour dates out through mid-November, including a stretch of Midwest cities close enough to drive to like Milwaukee (10.22–23 at Vivarium), Chicago (10.23 at the Vic Theatre), Iowa City (10.24 at the Englert Theatre), and Nashville (11.05–07). To buy tickets or check out the full itinerary, visit feltface.com. | Melissa Cynova
