Bellingham
Weekly Review - click here to return
to main REVIEW page
Become Dazzled - Cody Rivers brings late night show
to prime time
By Amy Kepferle
"I'd say the atmosphere here tonight is rather
splendid," noted my bearded companion as we
settled into our second row seats at iDiOM Theater
last Thursday a few minutes before The Best of
Cody Rivers began.
It may have been the 40 ounces of Old English
Malt Liquor talking, but I believe Joe was on to
something. All winter, local actors Mike Mathieu
and Andrew Conner have been bringing their mostly
hilarious, sometimes twisted brand of sketch comedy
to iDiOM's stage Saturdays at midnight under the
Cody Rivers moniker, and crowds seem to approve.
As the lights dimmed for the evening's prime time
debut, an excited clamoring began among the knitters,
hipsters and assorted theater geeks filling the
space.
"Cody, Cody, Coooo--dy!" chanted the
frenzied crowd awaiting the fictional pop- country
sensation, one of the duo's many creations. They
also stomped, hooted and threw in a holler or two
before the mythical performer arrived on stage
bathed in light.
A montage of poses involving cowboy hats, beer
and lip-synched music followed, and the show was
off.
Soon thereafter we were treated to some intricate,
and oddly arousing, choreography involving a fleet-footed
black bear (Conner) whose dance partner (Mathieu)
was clad in a formfitting, electric-blue spandex
leotard.
"When I saw that blue one in the store, I
knew I had to have it," shared Mathieu after
the show. "I knew I wanted to be in something
tight-clad and have Andrew in an animal costume
for a dance because I knew there would be no explanation
necessary for that and it would be a good way to
get people prepared for anything."
Having viewed three out of the past four episodes
of the two-man comedic extravaganza, I already
knew to expect the quirkiness inherent in Cody
Rivers lineups and figured the "best
of" show would offer skits from the cream
of the crop. I hoped for the return of royal chefs
preparing what could be their last meal in a flurry
of dancing, bowl throwing, gymnastics and insanity
as well as singing schoolboys in white socks and
shorts who are obsessed with tennis, and, of course,
Bavarian water puppetry.
And I was not disappointed.
Other than a few instances when Talky Joe verbally
balked at some scatological humor during a lovelorn
crooner's lament.
I believe his exact words were "that's just
wrong", the evening passed with due hilarity.
Mathieu and Conner's fast-paced extravaganza included
numerous costume changes, a veritable smorgasbord
of personalities, singing, dancing, toy chopping
and a successfully cheesy diatribe about universal
energy that promised we'd all "become dazzled." (And
we did.) Cody didn't reappear, but the audience
didn't seem fazed by his absence.
"We chose to cut most of the Cody stuff out
of this show because we're going to be taking it
on the road and that's the only part of the show
that's kind of sequential and requires a little
bit of familiarity," admitted Conner, who's
been collaborating with Mathieu in various forms
since they met in college nearly a decade ago.
"This particular genre is new for us," he
shared. "But it's really satisfying to have
creative control over everything. We've both done
a lot of performing and we've both written and
directed and danced but this is the first time
we've had a show that was completely under our
control. It's a lot of fun, but it's a ton of work.
Halfway through our run we have to start coordinating
the next show each month. It gets to be a pretty
demanding cycle."
Mathieu agreed that the demands of Cody Rivers
are both invigorating and time-consuming, but said
he's glad to have Conner as his collaborator (both
say they split the work 50/50).
"I also think we have a lot of the same talents," mused
Mathieu. "We have the same ability to dance
and play music. We're not experts on anything,
but rather capable in a number of areas. So that
makes the show have a pretty widespread amount
of material that we do."
click here to return to main REVIEW page |
