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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > October > 21 > Entry
10/21: Brett Butler - Grace Under Darkness
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For about 45 minutes on late Saturday night, the Funny Farm became Medieval Times.
While standup comic Ryan Maloney was finishing up a run of jokes about Al Gore, the entire “entertainment” complex holding the Funny Farm comedy club in Roswell plunged into darkness, the electricity cut off as headliner and Marietta native Brett Butler waited in the wings.
The room was saved from going completely black thanks to a couple of exit lights lit by a backup generator and candles on the tables.
“First, you have a water drought,” a befuddled Maloney cracked, “now you don’t have electricity!”
But the blackout didn’t cause a 1977 New York City-style riot. Rather, a bachelorette party, awash in blue glow sticks, ran up on stage to provide Maloney a modicum of light. And the Funny Farm sound man jumped up and stuck a pen light over Maloney, providing a very weak spotlight.
Some crowd members began yelling at Maloney to “Take off your clothes!” The standup eventually mimed a striptease but didn’t do a full monty or anything close to it. “First we lost electricity,” he said, “then I lost my dignity.”
In an interview after the show, New Yorker Maloney — who has been doing standup for a decade — said he vamped for several minutes in hopes the lights would come back on in time for Butler’s appearance. But it didn’t. After 10 minutes, Butler decided to hit the stage anyway and as Maloney passed the torch, he noted, “I want to thank you for the most bizarre evening of my career!”
As the sound guy held a tiny, thin light over Butler, the former star of “Grace Under Fire” did a truncated 30-minute set without a microphone. She noted she was moving back to Georgia, where she already owned a farm. In L.A., she noted, “I’ve seen idiots and beautiful people. I grew up in Marietta where there are lots of beautiful idiots.”
It was difficult to hear her in the back. One customer began yelling “Lights!” and “Mike!” as if she had power over the power. Butler tried to go with the flow but eventually said, “There are one or two people in this room who think I’m funny!” After some fans applauded, she noted, “I’ve done this for 25 years and I cant tell you I’ve done fine without your help.”
The guy and his date eventually left in a huff. In fact, several people cut out without paying as the poor wait staff struggled to tally up the bills under candlelight using hand-held calculators and good ol’ pen and paper.
With no air circulation, the room soon got stuffy. “I’m having hot flashes,” Butler cracked near the end of her truncated set. “That fan [the one that wasn’t operating] is mocking me!” At one point, she noted, “I like the opera. I’m going to write one about this!”
As she wrapped up, she hugged the spotlight guy, joked with a few patrons, then left as quickly as she could.
“She was pro and a trooper to keep doing the show,” Maloney said later.
Customers were given free passes for future shows for their troubles. And naturally, the lights came back on about 30 minutes after the show ended. Manager Marshall Chiles, who wasn’t at the show, said Sunday that a transformer blew but he wasn’t sure why that happened.
If you want to see a lighted, miked version of Butler, she has another show Sunday night at 8 for $20. Here’s more info to buy tickets..
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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