Katz and Cho return to the roles that defined them
In the nine years since "Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist" signed off from Comedy Central, not much has changed for Katz and crew. As we will see when "Dr. Katz Live" comes to the Somerville Theatre on Thursday, Katz is still seeing a parade of comedians and misfits, and he's still trying to give his son, Ben, now 35 and still living at home, some direction.
The big difference, besides Katz being in the flesh, is that we will get to see Katz interact with his own therapist, who just happens to be "Katz" producer Tom Snyder. "It's an opportunity for me to be wacky," says Jonathan Katz, Dr. Katz's voice and creator. "I've always described therapy like a bad talk show."
Snyder will sit in on Katz's sessions with his patients - KISS 108's Matt Siegel and original "Katz" writer Bill Braudis - pretty much against their will. Will Lebow will reprise his role as Stanley, and Jon Benjamin is back as Ben.
The chemistry between Katz and Benjamin was a focal point of the original show, and Katz credits him with opening up his comedy. "I used to stay within an inch of my act for 20 years, 15 years," he says. "And then I met Jon Benjamin, who taught me all about improvisation. Now the problem is getting me offstage."
Katz, who lives in Newton, says he has tried to ease himself away from the show since its cancelation in 1999, though he has sometimes revisited the character. He and Snyder did a different version of "Dr. Katz Live" at San Francisco's Sketchfest in January, with Robin Williams, Maria Bamford, and Andy Kindler, among others, as patients.
He was frustrated for years watching TV shows released on DVD after a single season while "Dr. Katz" languished until last year's box set of the complete series. Katz and Snyder are exploring the possibility of Dr. Katz's return to TV, though the show's subtle wit and kinder spirit would seem out of place on a schedule with "South Park" or "The Moment of Truth."
"It's very easy to make TV shows that are titillating and mean-spirited," says Katz. "I think the thing about 'Dr. Katz' was, it was a very sweet show. It was a show you could watch with your kids or your parents."
This is also Katz's biggest show since he revealed he has multiple sclerosis several years ago. He has played only a handful of shows since then, and nothing this coordinated. He says his MS will be addressed in the show but won't say how. "I think I resisted," he says of his decision to bring it up, "but unless I acknowledged it, it makes the audience uncomfortable."
The bigger challenge was mounting this show as a legitimate theater piece rather than a stand-up show. Katz and Snyder would like to produce a run of it somewhere and perhaps even take it to Broadway.
"I really want to make it feel like people just came to a play," says Katz. "I'd like them to leave feeling they saw theater."
For Cho, life is 'Beautiful'
Margaret Cho's first one-woman show, "I Am the One That I Want," still stands as her best work. She was just finding her way from stand-up to a slightly more theatrical format, and she had a moving, poignant story to tell about the turmoil that surrounded her when she got and then lost her own sitcom, "All-American Girl." With the release of the movie based on that show, Cho became something of a phenomenon.
Now, after writing and producing movies (including three concert films), writing two books, and starring in her own burlesque show on Broadway, Cho is getting back to basics again with her new show, "Beautiful," which comes to the Orpheum Theatre tomorrow. "This is my return to doing straight stand-up," she says, though she won't rule out singing a song or two.
The theme of "Beautiful" will be familiar to Cho's fans. She says she learned a lot about appreciating her own body doing the burlesque show, "The Sensuous Woman," but even after years of addressing the issue onstage, she still battles with her self-image.
"It is still a struggle," she says. "I feel better about myself than I ever have now, and I want to share that. I think it is hard to be a woman in the entertainment world and not be made to feel bad about yourself."
Cho thinks the discussion of negative self-image has become more prevalent, but the big picture hasn't shifted much. She's not sure how she can affect the overall dialogue, but her goals are a little more modest - to make her audience feel a bit better, maybe a bit more beautiful.
"I know how painful it is to feel like you are not," she says, "or how awful it is to feel invisible, which is easy to do if you don't see images out there of yourself, or anything even vaguely representing you."
She also can't seem to stay away from collaborators with Boston roots. Liam Sullivan will open tomorrow's show, Ian Harvie opens for her regularly, and comic/playwright Ryan Landry is a friend.
Next up for Cho is "Two Sisters," a film she directed for ABC Family, and "The Cho Show," a reality TV show for VH1 that Cho says follows her family, "both my Korean family and my gay family," she says, referring to her large gay following. "I love reality TV. It gives me far more control than anything else besides stand-up comedy."
Margaret Cho is at the Orpheum Theatre (1 Hamilton Place) tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $28.50-$45.50 at ticketmaster.com or 617-931-2000.
Around town
Steve Byrne plays the Comedy Connection tonight and tomorrow. 5 Funny Females with Susan Alexander, Esther Ku, Erin Judge, and others is at the Midway Cafe tomorrow. Katt Williams is at the Agganis Arena Sunday. "Stripped Stories" with Giulia Rozzi, Margot Leitman, DJ Hazard, and Sara Faith Alterman is at ImprovBoston Wednesday. "That Takes Ovaries" celebrates its sixth anniversary with a show at Pine Manor College Thursday.
