Jan. 3: Local comics coming ‘back to school’ at Laugh Attic

MANCHESTER, NH – Most of us—including this high school English teacher—have scratched and sniffed and stumbled through a high school English course that we’ve hated with every fiber of our being.

So most of us are familiar with the age-honored art of faking that we’ve read something that we clearly didn’t read, either due to apathy or the sedative effects of some pretentious out-of-touch text.

On Friday, Jan. 3, at The Strange Brew Tavern in Manchester, The Laugh Attic—a weekly stand-up comedy venue—will present, for one night only, “The High School Dropout,” a showcase of local comedians riffing on the books they may or may not have read in their own respective high school careers.

Mike Dupont, a comedian out of Lowell, Mass., pitched the show to Danny Pee, the host of The Laugh Attic, who offered Dupont the venue at The Strange Brew Tavern.

Pee, however, fully credits Dupont, a Laugh Attic luminary, for developing the idea for a comedy show that would tap into the pain of watching those “book report” presentations where everyone—including the teachers—understand the absurdity.

“The High School Dropout” will leave it to the audience to guess which comedians actually did their homework, or who might be faking it.

“These comedians all selected a work to present as a book report,” said Pee. “The catch is that, since they are comedians, it will take the form of a comedy set and has the potential to truly go in any direction the performers wish to take it. We certainly have a mix of styles on the show, as well as a mix of criminal records.”

The evening will culminate with headliner Josh Day, a regional comedian who has opened for national acts, such as Dave Attell and Kyle Dunnigan.

“We consider our Josh Day to be the super senior of the group—a real five-year plan kind of student,” Pee said, adding that all the performers might range from “street smart, to book smart, to not smart at all.”

After each comedian’s “book report,” the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions with each presenter, which will be moderated by the teacher/hosts, Mr. Pee and Mr. Dupont.

“We want to make sure our inquisitive audience has an opportunity to probe further, in case there are aspects of the presentation they wanted to delve into,” said Pee, who anticipates audience questions that will test each comedian’s improvisational skills. “We consider the audience to be the classmates who are there to see the presentations.”

The performers and their respective texts will include Owen Damon (John Steinbeck’s anti-rabbit short novel “Of Mice and Men”); Kwame Boeteng (the graphic novels of “Gantz,” written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku); Brian Rojas (“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, a controversial text due to a male rape scene); Alex Williams (James Joyce’s inscrutable tome “Ulysses”); Derek Zeiba (George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984”, a.k.a “Project 2025”); Kaile Krenzer (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” standard fare in most high school curriculums); Dan Doherty (Stephen King’s novella “Rita Hayworth, and The Shawshank Redemption,” which included in his collection “Different Seasons”); Andrew McGuinness (the poet Allen Ginsberg’s homoerotic anthem “Howl, and Other Poems”); and Kaitlin Sofia (the soft snore titled Dante’s “Inferno”).

Pee encourages people unfamiliar with the local stand-up talent in Manchester to catch these comedians before they gain fame and fly for larger pastures.

“This show is the first of its kind at the Laugh Attic and showcases the versatility and talent of our comedians,” he said. “I would suggest that comedy fans from Manchester and surrounding areas get in on the ground floor with Laugh Attic comics in this intimate show space that we have upstairs at Strange Brew Tavern.”

Tickets can be purchased online before the event for $15, or on the night the event for $20 at The Strange Brew Tavern. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. The show starts at 8 p.m.