E2|Wednesday,January 11, 2017|SFChronicle.com
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1.... Be6!(or...
Bg4)
2.Rxa8Bd5ch
(getsthe
Whiterook,
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fromUC Davisforre-
search,buthisscience
andPowerPointshave
becomeacornerstoneof
hisfull-timecomedy
career.Thecomic,who
gothis startinSanFran-
cisco,returnstothe
PunchLinecomedyclub
onTuesdayandWednes-
day, Jan.10-11,andthen
headstotheKuumbwa
JazzCenterinSantaCruz
onFriday, Jan.13.
Leegra duat edwith
honorsfromUC San
Diegoinbiologyinthe
1990sanddidfieldre-
searchcountingwhales
anddolphinswiththe
ScrippsInst ituteofSci-
enceandTechnology. He
plannedtobecomea
collegeprofessor,doing
graduat ework inDavis,
butwhileresearchingthe
salmonpopulationin
Californiarivers,he
quicklyfelloutoflove
withhigherlearning.
“Idon’tthinkIsawa
salmoninthefive,six
yearsI wasworkingon
my project,”Leesa ys.“I
wasjustgettingdataand
analyzingit.... It go ttothe
pointwhereIdidn’t enjoy
it.”
Afterworkingdifferent
post-graduat ionjobs,
includingastint at
CharlesSchwab working
onsoftware,hedecidedto
trycomedy. Leecrammed
forhisfirststand-up
appearancelikeit was
finalsweek.
Comedy“lookedvery
hard,andItendtograv-
itat eto wardthingsthat
arehard,”Leesa ys.“I
wrotedownsomejokes,
andIworkedonthemfor
awhile.Ireadquiteafew
booksaboutstand-up
comedy, whichhelped.”
Lee’sfirsttryduring
comedynight at Brain-
Wash cafeandlaundro-
matinSanFranciscogota
mixedreaction,buthe
washooked.By 2009,Lee
decidedtopursuecome-
dy fulltime.
Butthecomedian
didn’t exactlyleave his
degreesbehind.
ATimLeeperfor-
manceinclude sa Power-
Pointpresentation,often
with fairly complexscien-
tificprinciplesthatare
simplifiedintojokes
everyoneintheaudience
canrelateto.In oneof
severalpopularYouTube
videosthathave received
morethan500,000views,
hegi vesalectureonthe
covalentbondsfoundin
diamonds,beforese-
gueingintotheabsurd.(“I
have anewdiscovery
calledasupercovalent
bond,thestrongestbond
intheknownuniverse,
thatformsbetweenmy
roommate’s bodyhair
andabarofsoap.”)
Asidefromtravelingto
clubsaroundthecountry,
Leeisalsocurrentlyfea-
turedontheScience
Channel’s “How DoThey
DoIt?”Buthesays noth-
ingaboutcomedyhas
seemedeasy—evenafter
thehardwork that went
into gettinganadva nced
degree.
Lee, wh oli vesnear
CarlsbadinSanDiego
Countynow, stillproduc-
eshisownshows.He
co-wroteasitcomabouta
pharmaceuticalcompany,
whichthecomicsays has
beenhardtogetproduced
becauseofthepotentialto
alienateadvertisers.
Perh apsworstofall,he
hadtoleave SanFrancis-
cose veralyearsago. Lee
lovedlivinginthecity,but
hasafamilynowand
can’t affordit.
“Ial ways talkaboutit
with my wife.I’dlove to
live there,butit’s justtoo
damnexpensive,”Lee
says.“Wecan’t afforda
three-bedroomplacein
SanFrancisco.Icould
winthelotteryandnotbe
abletoaffordathree-
bedroomplaceinSan
Francisco.”
There’s noelementof
self-pityinhisvoice. Lee
chosecomedywhenhe
wasat acrossroadsinhis
life,unsureifhewanted
tobeascientist,ortakea
biggerriskforsomething
that wouldmakehim
happy.Turnsouthe
coulddo both.
“IknewwhatIdidn’t
want todo anymore,butI
didn’t knowwhatIdid
want todo,andthat’sa
hardplacetobe,”Lee
says.“Ithought I’dtry
comedyjusttoseeifI
likedit.It turnedouttobe
somethingIlove.”PeterHartlaubisThe San
FranciscoChronicle’spop
culturecritic.Email:
[email protected]
Twitter:@PeterHartlaubTonyWebsterTim Lee, who got his stand-up start in San
Francisco,creates science-infused comedy.
Comicgot feetwet
studying marine life
Tim Lee: 8 p.m.Wednes-
day,Jan. 11. $20.Punch
Lineb, 444 BatterySt., S.F.
http://www.punchlinecome
dyclub.com; 8p.m. Friday,
Jan. 13. $23-33,$9for
students.KuumbwaJazz
Center, 320CedarSt. #2,
SantaCruz. http://www.
kuumbwajazz.orgLee from page E1
hard to believe that Cus-
tom Made Theatre Co.’s
Bay Area Premiere pro-
duction will be, asad-
vertised, a thriller.
Yet just asyou start to
think that, dread creeps
back in — the same dread
that’s beenapparent from
the play’s first few lines,
when Abby asks, a little
too insistently, a little too
anxiously, why Za ck is
home fromwork watch-
ing porn in the middle of
the afternoon, and he in
turn brushes off orshuts
down every query with
astonishing alacrity.
In Gi llman’s astute
rendering, Zack is a liar of
unparalleledskill —
which is to say a perform-
er, charmer and improvis-
er who’s able to compart-
mentalize and repress all
niggling compunctions or
anxieties.As an audience
member,you might find
yourself so drawn in to
his consciousness that
you, too, forget the disas-
ters that threaten toup-
end his andAbby’s life —
alife that include s a pres-
tigious, noble jobat Doc-
tors Without Borders for
him and an ornamental
gig teaching yoga for her;
charming Christmas gifts
in boutiqueshopping
bags; a Valium- and mari-
juana-fueled midday nap
followed by a drunken
night of debauchery, both
decided spur of the mo-
ment, sans consequences.
Herzog supplies foils to
Zack and Abby in their
SenegaleseMuslim land-
lords, Alioune (Nick
Sweeney) and Amina
(Nkechi Emeruwa). They
live downstairs, andAlioune and Zack often
smoke a bowl together,
complainingabout their
wives. But any connection
that creates isflimsyat
best, asHerzog cannily
illustrates in theway her
whit e characters con-
stantly cut off ordon’t
listen to the black ones. (If
there’s any flaw in the
writing of these early
scenes,it’s that it’d be nice
to hear more from Amina
and Alioune.)
Yet Herzog’s writing
and M. Graham Smith’s
thoughtful direction
never allowAbby and
Zack to devolve into car-
icature. “No, ye ah, it’s
good, I’ll just set out to
confirmevery stereotype
you may have about
Americans,”Abby jokes
wryly to Alioune in a
halting exchange early in
the play. As Abby careens
between insensitivity and
oversensitivity, Ehrlich
adroitly makesclear that
those two moods are two
sides of the same coin.
In one momentyou
might loathe thechildlike
Abby and Zack for their
privileges, their lack of
responsibilities and their
inability to cultivate men-
tal health and marital
bliss in spite of all that.
But in the next,Herzog
might allow Zack to be the
perfecthusb and in the
way he cares for astub-
bed toe or a hangover, or
Smith might create a
moment ofsuch striking
naturalism thatyou’d
swear you were overhear-
ing neighbors intone
sweet nothings rather
than watching astag ed
scene.
Toward the end of the
play, improbabilitiesmount soquickl y, and the
charactersget so little
time toabsorb each bit of
earth-shattering news,
that the heretoforesteadi-
ly building tension dissi-
pates rather thanclimax-
es. Abby’s reactions, in
particular, seem out of
character.For a woman
who ear ly in the play
zeroes in on each ob-
served inconsistency with
laser-sharp focus, pep-
pering Zack with ques-
tions with the logic and
relentlessness of a litiga-
tor, half-thought-
through, restrained re-plies don’t feel justified.
Still, “Belleville” makes
aharrowing pointabout
just howdeeply status-
consciousness ingrains
itself, howmuchprivilege
warps perception — and
that those insidious
forcesdon’t just influence
cartoons,stereotypical
elites, but peoplewho
might look and talk just
like you.Lily Janiak isThe San
Francisco Chronicle’s
theater critic. E-mail:
[email protected]
Twitter:@Lil yJaniakCarlosAvila Gonzalez/ The Chronicle
Justin Gillman (left) andNick Sweeney, as the
landlord,share a light moment in “Belleville.”Domestic drama,
looming disaster
“Belleville” from page E1RT1 I E"TERT"ME"T
Midge Ure:Bestknownasa founding member of semi-
nalsynth-popactsUltravox andVisageandco-writer of
Band Aid’s all-star 1984 charity single “DoThey Know
It’s Christmas?,” Ure is on aU.S.tour in support of his
mostrecent solo album, “Fragile.” 8p.m.Social Hall,S.F.
http://www.axs.com
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