Review: Kenn Boisinger Homebound Has Live Streaming Viewers Doubled Over

Over two thousand people tuned in to Facebook Live on Sunday night to see Kenn Boisinger do a streaming 50-minute concert from, as he repeatedly noted, his mother's "hayf-finished basement out on the island." It was an appropriate detail to mention so many times and completely in keeping with the Kenn Boisinger that audiences have come to know and love. The entire program, in fact, was precisely what fans of Kenn Boisinger tuned in to see. Viewers without previous knowledge of the artist's style of performing might, initially, have been a bit surprised, but it would not have taken anyone long to figure out that what they were watching was exactly what was meant for their eyes.

Nothing could be more fun than writing a review of Kenn Boisinger as though that were a real person, but it isn't. Kenn Boisinger is a character created by the industrious and tireless Michael West. Comedy writer/actor Mr. West has gone to great lengths to create a persona that will provide him with ample opportunity to play, as well as supply his fans with an overabundance of laughter. What Mr. West has ended up with is a character easily mentioned in the same sentence as Ed Grimley, Edith Prickley, Linda Richmond, or The Sweeney Sisters. Kenn Boisinger is, indeed, a singer, but when seeing a Kenn Boisinger show, audiences know that it is not a music act, it is a comedy routine. Michael West has taken the universally acknowledged and understood character "The Lounge Lizard" and designed him in a manner with no other possible outcome but to keep West working and audiences howling. Wigged out with ridiculous hair, a '70s porn 'stache, and the cheesiest sparkly outfits imaginable, Michael West lampoons standards we know and croons original songs so absurd that the only thing that could make them funnier would be the silliest of all possible vocal styles. West hits a bullseye with songs like "I Wish I Could Be Quarantined With You" and "Daddy Drinks Because You Cry," complete with mispronounced words and justbarelythere notes - mostly they are just under the pitch but for good measure West makes sure that Kenn is sometimes a full step or two off. It's just enough to leave you coasting somewhere in between insanity and hilarity: it's comedy perfection, especially when he adds a vibrato that you could drive an 18 wheeler though... or an entire convoy.

Michael West puts a lot into his act, whether he is working in a live venue or in the new normal that is virtual performance, and since he is streaming and cannot connect with his audience in ways that they are used to, he has done that which one would expect from a professional artist: he has learned how to use the tools of the (current) trade to put over the best show possible. Using green screen technology, West puts on a fully realized production, with backgrounds, graphics, editing, including silly special effects that make a person giggle for a while and then just disintegrate into howls of laughter. He provides music videos, spoofs television commercials from the past, and creates shout-outs to age-old telethons and cable-access religious programming. Moment after moment, Kenn Boisinger provides laughs that resonate with trivia buffs who understand that his "Impossible Dream" is a direct nod to the infamous day that Robert Goulet forgot the words to The Star-Spangled Banner. The Maria medley alone is reason enough to see Kenn Boisinger, but even were West not performing the genius mash-up, the hour-long internet TV skit from last night was an absolute pleasure to see, in all its MAD Magazine, SCTV, Dr. Brewster, Mrs. Miller, crazy quilted brilliance. It is true that there were some technical difficulties that cost this writer the chance to see guest-star Christina Bianco, but these are days of a learning curve and each artist dipping their toes into the water will get better at the tech part of the process as time goes on.

For today, everyone who cares about original talent and good comedy should be grateful that Michael West didn't just dip his toes in: he cannonballed.

Given the comments on his Facebook page, his viewers are beyond happy to have gotten, thus, wet.

Kenn Boisinger Homebound can be seen on the Michael West Facebook page HERE

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