Stars of the AVT #78: Shane Baker

This post is one of a series profiling the hundreds of performers I’ve presented through my American Vaudeville Theatre in celebration of its 15th anniversary. Don’t miss the American Vaudeville Theatre’s 15th Anniversary ExTRAVaganza in the New York International Fringe Festival this August!

I presented Shane Baker on a “melting pot” bill I produced at Eldridge Street Synagogue in 2006. This review I wrote of his show “The Big Bupkis” last year will also serve as a fitting profile:

Back in the day there used to be a specialty in vaudeville known as the “Hebrew”. This was a comedian — possibly Jewish, possibly not — who played the part of a stereotypical Jew, with all the mannerisms, costume choices, and dialect impersonations that go along with such a thing, a concept not so far from blackface. I mention this as an opener only to point out the remarkable fact this is manifestly what Shane Baker is NOT.

Shane Baker is a goy from Kansas City, he does a Yiddish vaudeville routine (occasionally even donning yamalke and payiss) and his material is STILL not a stereotype. In The Big Bupkis: A Complete Gentile’s Guide to Yiddish Vaudeville cleaves respectfully to genuine Yiddish vaudeville material (of the Second Avenue type) — he laughs with, rather than at, Jews. When I say with, I mean really with — he’s a scholar of the language and culture, and a fluent speaker. As he says in the current show, his fascination began when he saw Animal Crackers as a child and none of the adults could tell him what the word “shnorer” meant. Long time indie theatre fans will remember him from Nada Show World’s 1999 God of Vengeance (translated by Caraid O’Brien, another goyische Yiddish scholar — what gives?)

In The Big Bupkis, the slender premise is that he is up for a Young Yiddish Entertainer of the Year (or “Y, Y, Y?” award). But that’s really just an excuse for him to showcase his abilities, and they are broad ranging indeed. He sings funny songs in Yiddish, tells funny jokes and stories in both languages, does ventriloquism, magic tricks, drag, and even works with a trained dog. He even makes a particularly funny face that I’d love to see more of. That’s the extent of the intellectuality in this review, I’m afraid – - “make more of that funny face”.

Unfortunately there’s no more vaudeville industry for Baker to strut his stuff in — he would have found work. Though I don’t think this is Palace (or even modern night club) material, it’s just right for venues like the community center I saw it in (the Workman’s Circle on 33th Street). Aside from a couple of dirty jokes, I think it would be a terrific show to bring kids to. As Baker says in the show (in so many words), if we don’t introduce our kids to this rich culture, it will indeed die out.

ADDENDUM: For more info on Shane, see this excellent article in the Jewish Daily Forward.

To learn more about vaudeville past and present, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.