I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: May 4, 2025] Varietourpia with Paul F. Tompkins

Paul F. Tompkins is one of my favorite comedians and I would happily see him do anything.  Although this is the first time I’ve been able to see one of his Varietopia shows.

As the name suggests, this is a Variety show like they had in the old days: comedy, music, interaction, magic.  All in one show.  He’s been doing this since 2002 (!) and it sounds like when he does the show in L.A. anyone who is funny or entertaining shows up.

For our show, we had Medusa the Gangsta Goddess and Artoun Nazareth.  Not household names by any means.

Medusa the Gangsta Goddess is an underground hip-hop legend whom I’ve never heard of.  She was fun and is referred to as the godmother of west coast hip hop.

Artoun Nazareth is a magician who I thought was really good and very funny.  I was gobsmacked by a trick in which writing appeared to move across a page and turn into something else.

Nazareth is also an actor, so it makes sense that he was such a good performer.  He did fun crowd work and was good enough that I immediately followed him on Instagram.

And backing most acts were his band.  A great group of musicians with drums bass electric guitar and tuba (or sousaphone).  They played in the acts, they played behind the acts when they needed music and they were participants in some of the bits.  Trumpeter Jordan Katz even had a bit of back and forth with Paul–a bit about his kids that was pretty funny.

Jill Sobule had recently died unexpectedly and they paid tribute to her by singing one of her songs.  It was beautiful and sad.

Running throughout the show were Paul F. Tompkins bits.  He had a very funny thing about how he and his wife differ about where to put butter.  His family was a leave it on the counter family and his wife’s family was a butter in the fridge family.  And he joked about how impossible it is to butter bread with rock hard butter.

He also showed an old video which still makes him laugh to watch it.   It was a very youthful Tim Meadows reading MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech filtered through Google’s voice message translator.  So, so funny.

As with all great comedy it’s hard to remember the best bits because you’re laughing too hard.  Although he did dress like a bishop/the pope and read an update from the Parish Bulletin (as any good catholic remembers).

For reasons I don’t quite understand, they ended with a cover of Thunderstruck, one of the dumbest AC/DC songs (which is also super catchy).

Paul F. Tompkins is practically a throwback.  His mustache, his dress, his tone, it all screams old school.  So it was no real surprise (but it was a delightful surprise) when he came back out and sang Ya Got Trouble from The Music Man.  And he did a great job.

It was a ton of fun and I would definitely see him again if the tour bus comes to town.

Thankfully, some other folks kept track of some of the bits, which included:

Musical introduction
Doctor Worm (They Might Be Giants song)
Paul F. Tompkins monologue
Medusa the Gangsta Goddess
From the Archives (Tim Meadows reads MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech filtered through Google’s voice message translator)
Artoun Nazareth
Palm Springs (Jill Sobule song)
The Parish Bulletin
Don’t Funk in My Direction (Medusa the Gangsta Goddess)
banter with trumpeter Jordan Katz
Thunderstruck (AC/DC song)
encore
Ya Got Trouble (Robert Preston song)