Whoop De Doo and You Can Too

Last night, our wee crew slapped on snow boots, heavy coats, and mittens to go see some art in a bustlin' little Kansas City.

Now, I want the next line to sound as Hallmark Movie of the Week, sappy sweet as possible, although I'm not sure how to strike the right tone. Let's see if I can nail it:

It was a bittersweet experience as wWe bid adieu bid a fond farewell swapped saliva like parting lovers who have to make it to seventh period on time for once made our tearsoaked goodbyes to our Society for Contemporary Photography (re: the bitter) and then darted over a few blocks, swabbed our eyes, and hootenannied our helloes and welcomes to that sassy young thing (re; sweet), Jamie Warren's Whoop De Doo.

It was a special night.

Jamie Warren's Whoop De Doo ("De" may have two Es), if you haven't caught one, is billed as an art event.

Indeed.

Think about it like a younger, less accomplished, and less scripty Saturday Night Live (with a more challenging production quality), conducted by art school kids for a live art audience (including toddlers) and you'll be not quite, but slightly there. It toys with the ironic, delves with two fetish-booted feet into the funny, and offers some interesting sets and interpretative dance along the way.

The portion of this installment that we squatted for (maybe about an hour) included these crowd-pleasing highlights, if I may dip into a bullet list:

• a school-room debacle in which an economics teacher gets usurped by Twizzler-endowed rabblerouser
• lumberjacks whose axe dance is interrupted quite decisively by a blonde-braided Heidi in a bear costume
  
• a tap number by what I'm imagining is a local tap troupe. And I'm not sure what to think about that. They danced without irony, but the Whoop De Doo context, well, let's just say I laughed but I didn't feel good about it.
• some faboo, irony-free breakdancing
• a gameshow that included a couple of drag queens and some young audience participants

Maybe you need to be drunk, or something-elsed, like under 25, to fully appreciate the art/comedy of Whoop De Doo, but regardless of degree or type of influence, it's a good time. And because it's classified as art (and not full-scale improv), it can miss funny mountain, which it often does.

It's fun. It's fresh. It's vibrant, energetic. We didn't have any heady conversations or insights after the "show," but we had a good time. Too often and unfortunately, "good time" isn't often found in the same room with art. And it should be.