Live Comedy at The Historic Strand Theatre

Live comedy was alive and well last night at the Historic Strand Theatre in downtown Clinton, MA. A few times a year co-owners Rob & Bill bring local comics to the grand stage and only laughter ensues. This time was no different. With an eclectic mix of styles the comediennes kept the entire audience laughing from start to finish.

On this evening good looking, hyper energetic, host and funnyman Jesse Bickford started the show with a quick set of his own before introducing the first of the nights headliners. His witty repertoire of jokes about how the dating world has changed for the worse were light and humorous. His impressions were delightfully spot on and captured the moment. website

The first comedienne to take the stages is a teacher by day and comedian by night. Dave Lamb schooled the audience with his funny and engaging skit. As an IT guy I appreciated his skit about online security. "Passwords are ridiculous and are worth 90 points in scrabble" and his part about google being a more efficient was to search for porn. His joke about black people meets dating website. When he looked it up blackpeoplemeats.com he found a much different kind of website. website

David Rattigan is the ring leader of this group of comediennes. Operating the talent company that brought them all here he too is a funny guy. I loved his skit about Martha Burke who ran the protest at Augusta in support of women's right to join the club.  He went on to say how she inspired him to go home and grab his protest signs and visit the local Curves. website

The best comic of the night was Christine Hurley. website She is the mom everyone wishes they had. As a past finalist of Nick at Nights "Funniest Mom in America" contest she didn't disappoint. Her jokes focused on her life as a mother of 5 and wife to a local fireman. She tells the story of any mom raising that number of children and the hilarity of all the unusual things parents have to deal with. One of my favorite lines from her act was aimed at the mothers in the audience.

“I’m going to tell you ladies a little secret: You can mix Slim Fast with vodka,” she said. “First of all, it doesn’t curdle. Who knew? And second of all, all those condescending bitches at the bus stop can’t smell it on your breath.”

Her stories and views on motherhood and marriage are exactly what everyone is living through…people get it and love it and so did I.

I invite you all to attend one of the Strand's Comedy Nights so you can enjoy the hilarity of many of our local comics.

Strand Theatre - Jim Spinnato, R-rated Hypnotist

Located in sleepy Central Massachusetts town of Clinton is the Historic Strand Theatre. Built in 1924, today it is one of the oldest existing and still operating movie theatres in the area. During the heydays of yesteryear it operated as a vaudeville theatre and movie house until the late 1970's. Able to seat over 1200 patrons when it was built it reopened in 1995 after a lengthy renovation and now seats 304.

In additions to their regular movie schedule they host special events such as comedy nights. New to the Strand Theatre calendar was Jim Spinnato and his r-rated hypnosis. Having performed in the New England area for years at big venues like Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, Six Flags, and numerous colleges Jim brought his comedy, audience participation and hypnosis to Central MA 's Clinton for the first time at the Historic Strand Theatre.

After a brief introduction Jim Spinnato invited everyone in the audience to stand up and test their ability to be hypnotized by following a few specific instructions. Unfortunately I failed the test and would not be a good candidate.  The idea was to help the audience members who wanted to volunteer determine if they would be a good candidate as a participant for the show. 

Next he invited anyone who passed the first test and wanted to participate to come down to the front along the stage. Here he separated the girls and the guys and administered another test. This allowed him to identify 12 participants he felt would be great candidates and invited them on stage. 7 girls and 5 guys were selected.

Once all 12 were seated he asked the audience to be perfectly quiet as he slowly and methodically hypnotized the group of participants through a series of breathing and concentration while soothing music and his voice put them into a hypnotic state. Some it didn't work for and he sent them back to their seats to enjoy the show.

For those that did he become hypnotized the fun was just beginning. He created a key word chosen by the audience. Once that key word was said he told the participants that the closer they got to their fellow participants the better they smelled and the better they smelled the closer you should get.

Next he convinced them that they smelled terrible. The reactions from the participants was hysterical. After torturing them with the pleasant and foul smells he put them back to sleep. I wont ruin the whole experience by telling you everything but I will share a few more of the fun shenanigans

One of his gags was when that trigger word was said that the ladies would feel a tickle between their legs that felt amazingly good. One of the girls was very dramatic about her reaction. It looks almost like she was experiencing the most intense orgasm of her life.

During another At one point he convinced one of the older guys that he has lost his penis and that he could only ask Jim to help him find it. Jim suggested that a particular woman in the audience had it.. the very shy man tried to discretely ask for it back. Jim asked him to describe it and he did just that. The funniest part was Jim talking about how the honesty of the guy suggesting it was of just average size. Finally the guy gets his penis back while his entire family was laughing hysterically.

As a finally he picked one guy and one girl and made the others dance for them Even making the guys dance for the guy and the girls dance for the girl. It was a pretty outrageously funny evening full of giggles and outright laughter. Jim Spinnato is a class act and a spirited performer. His talent and personality made for an enjoyable evening filled with fun and excitement.

Boston Pops Holiday Concert

To get into the holiday spirit my parents and I attended the The Boston Pop’s Holiday Concert in Worcester, MA. The Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart dazzled the city and the audience with their sold out holiday concert at the Hanover Theatre. They were accompanied by vocal group Five by Design, the Seven Hills Charter School Show Choir, and Jolly Ole’ St. Nick. This performance by the Boston Pop’s marks their return after having broken their 27 year tradition of coming to Worcester in 2008. This year they moved from the larger DCU center to the more intimate Hanover Theatre. This more intimate setting, where the venue is known for its acoustics, proved to be a success with not a single empty seat.

After a brief introduction by Hanover Theatre’s Troy Siebels, the Boston Pop’s and Keith Lockhart started the show off with a bang with Christmas Canticles. The concert featured classic music of the holiday season with a unique twist. The vocal styling’s of Five by Design added a retro swing style to the performance. They performed such Christmas songs as Carol of the Bells, O Come O Come Emanuael, Holly Jolly Christmas and a special reading of how the Grinch Stole Christmas.

After a brief intermission they started the second half with an amazing rendition of Joy! followed by Noelle Scarlett from Grafton High School reading the classic Yes. Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus. While they continued with more classics like Sleigh Ride, Home for the Holiday’s and Twas the Night Before Christmas you couldn’t help but want to sing along with the beautiful music.

The show wrapped up when Jolly Ole’ St. Nick joined Keith Lockhart on stage and the Seven Hills Charter School Show Choir performed Light the Candles. They then lead the audience in a sing along of some of the classic holiday songs like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Have yourself a Merry Christmas, Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire, Winter Wonderland, and Jingle Bells.


After a standing ovation for their performances we were treated to an encore performance of Silent Night sung by Five By Design. The concert was closed by the Boston Pop’s with a solo orchestra performance of holiday medley of Christmas Favorites Frosty the Snowman and Jingle Bells.

Panorama of The Hanover Theatre from the Balcony with the Boston Pop's on Stage