Garden Bazaar at Fallout Theater

If you’ve ever been to a com­e­dy show and thought to your­self ​“this is great, but it’s miss­ing trin­kets”, you’re in luck. Gar­den Bazaar is a trea­sure trove of tal­ent cen­tered amidst the back­drop of a flea mar­ket- or rather the clut­tered home of some three Beau­mont sis­ters, the eccen­tric head­scarved hosts of the show. Fans of cult films will rec­og­nize this nod to the Beales of Grey Gar­dens fame, but even if you’re not a Cri­te­ri­on mem­ber, you’ll be laugh­ing through­out this tri­o’s curat­ed show and tell.

Our emcees Edie (Katy Matz), Edie (Andrew Micul­ka), and Edie (Emma Hold­er) promise Austin’s ​“finest com­e­dy curios”, and they keep that promise. The cat­a­log has includ­ed Hold­er and Syd Goin act­ing as well­ness gurus, ​“Meis­ner Method-trained” Irielle Wes­ley audi­tion­ing for the Harlem Glo­be­trot­ters, para­nor­mal inves­ti­ga­tor Fox Brous­sard (Kyle Romero) get­ting slimed in ghost ecto­plasm, riv­er crea­ture Swim­freek (Shano McMullin) peti­tion­ing city coun­cil, and cow­boy Bil­ly the Adult (Xan­der Noland) teach­ing us how to say no to drugs by shoot­ing solic­i­tors from the hip. Even famed Lone­some Dove author Lar­ry McMurtry (Kyle Iri­on) has made an appearance.

Invari­ably there will be audi­ence par­tic­i­pa­tion at a Gar­den Bazaar show. In the case of my most recent­ly attend­ed show, tarot card read­ings were giv­en by Dani Gon­za­lez in the form of Ras­cal Flatts albums (the cards being CDs, and the read­ings being the song lyrics Gon­za­lez knows by heart). I was lat­er a cap­tive par­tic­i­pant in soror­i­ty rush when ​“sis­ters of Kap­pa Alpha Theta” Kay­la Rainey and Julie Black­well called upon the audi­ence to vote for our new pledge based on three hope­fuls. It was close, but between cyclops Celia Mae from Mon­sters Inc., Flo from Pro­gres­sive, and Sarah Palin, we ulti­mate­ly favored the Mon­sters Uni­ver­si­ty transfer. 

The col­lec­tions on dis­play aren’t lim­it­ed to char­ac­ters; between just two show dates so far, this road­show has pre­sent­ed standup from Bran­di Davis and Zain Hus­sain, bur­lesque from Sire­na Del Can­to, and loop­ing gui­tar vir­tu­os­i­ty from adri hul­let. You nev­er know what you’ll find at Gar­den Bazaar.