Local comedy show returns to CU
There may be free juice and cookies, but this comedy show isn’t for the kids.
The Secret Circus, an alternative comedy revue, is in its second season at CU with Friday’s show being the 10th ever. Started in 2005 by local comedian Dave Burdick, 23, the show combines stand-up, live sketches and video skits.
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Along with 23-year-old Elisha Yaffe, Burdick’s old Emerson College friend and fellow comedian, the duo fills Old Main with laughter and miniature cookies.
Each show is completely different and is largely based on improvisation. One character that shows up from time to time is Angry Danny Bartokowitz, your typical angry comedian-think Lewis Black, George Carlin or Emerson alumnus Dennis Leary.
“He had a little bit of a break down, but he’ll be back,” Burdick said about the character. “You can’t just get rid of Angry Danny Bartokowitz.”
Another sketch the audience likes is the Comedy Landlord, Burdick said.
“Elisha plays my comedy landlord,” Burdick said. “It’s like I’m renting the show from him, and Wally (the landlord) has to come in and fix it, but he’s a shitty landlord.”
As a comedian in New York, Yaffe does a lot of stand-up, but says he likes working more with another person.
“It allows us to tackle a lot of different topics,” Yaffe said. “You’re always aware that the other person can pick up the pieces if you bomb, but not with stand-up.”
Although much of the show is improvised, Burdick says there’s more of a sense of unity with Yaffe.
“The thing that tied it together wasn’t me hosting and being lovey-dovey on stage,” Burdick said. “It’s the joined voices of me and Elisha on stage.”
Between skits, videos are played of sketches they’ve previously recorded. Friday’s show will include a special Groundhog Day video.
Another regular segment on the show is Burdick’s News of the Day, hosted by his character, Hal Fox. These segments take on an old-timey feel of newsreels from the past.
Emerson College friend Ballard C. Boyd, 24, the self-proclaimed “third guy” of Secret Circus, helps create the video sketches and steps in when the two comedians need a third character. One of his recurring characters takes the form of a woman in a dress.
“We started casting him as a woman,” Yaffe said. “And he hasn’t complained.”
Burdick said it’s an undeserved treat for the newcomers.
“You come for the juice and cookies, but stay for Ballard in a dress,” he said.
Although Boyd takes the brunt of the duo’s jokes, he still enjoys working with them. Boyd described Burdick’s humor as being the opposite of Burdick’s Bartokowitz character. It’s not angry and gross-it’s huggable.
“It’s not abrasive comedy,” Boyd said. “Although there’s plenty of dirty words and jokes, you know that everything’s okay with the Secret Circus stuff.”
So how did Secret Circus start, anyway?
First hired two years ago by CU’s Program Council to do stand-up at a freshman orientation, Burdick pitched the idea of Secret Circus as a variety show to the council.
“I told them, ‘I want to give a bigger show and do something crazier, but I don’t know what it is, how does that sound?'” Burdick said about his proposal to Program Council. “For reasons unknown to me, they signed a contract and gave me a check, a date and didn’t ask very many questions until two days before the show.”
Burdick convinced Program Council that the show must go on, and with East Coast-dwelling Yaffe. The council pays for Yaffe to travel to Boulder for the show.
“It came about naturally,” Yaffe said about becoming part of Secret Circus. “It evolved into a two-man show.”
Secret Circus has become an anticipated event with a cult-like following. The two share the same style of humor, and Yaffe said that Secret Circus wouldn’t be possible without someone like Burdick to start their fan base.
“Secret Circus is a series, so Elisha and I get to do big crazy shows, but we get to know our audience, and our audience gets to know us,” Burdick said. “It’s got a voice and a life of its own, which is a lot better than how disjointed a lot of comedy shows are.”
The Secret Circus will be at 8 p.m. Friday in Old Main.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Jenny Bergen at Jennifer.bergen@thecampuspress.com.
