Review: Goofy Gabriel Generally Brings Brooklyn To The Basement With A NIGHT OF HEHE-HAHAS At 54 Below

Heigh-Ho, My Merry Rainbow Tribe! Bobby Patrick your RAINBOW Reviewer here. Grabbing that silent T in cabareT to bring you all the Tea!

54 Below played host Wednesday Night to one of its own… Hosts. Self-described Silly, Goofy Kid, and seating host for the club, Gabriel Generally (he/they) brought a late-night show of insanity mixed with musical comedy… Now, by that, we do not mean “musical comedy” we mean Musical/Comedy - comedy that is musical and vice reverse-ah. In truth, like the evening’s host, nicknamed GG, the whole affair almost defies description. Singing, laughing, and giggling through a musical set list that included 7 of their own self-penned songs, GG gave the crowd tons of laughs and fun and had this aged writer alternately laughing our head off or struggling to keep up with the comedy whirlwind that was Generally … in general. In truth, what we saw might very well have been some of the freshest and most innovative performance art/comedy we have ever seen... OR it was total crap - we are going to lean on the former, though, because Little Bobby had such a good time… though we’re not entirely sure why. Generally is GEN Z personified and no mistake - a bouncing ball of giggles with a thousand-watt smile and hair that adds 2 inches atop their thin frame, sporting star-shaped pasties on their slight, boyish chest, wearing a sheer purple off-the-shoulders chemise (for their first costume) this femmy, out loud and proud performer seemed something like the ADD-afflicted love child of Drag Diva Shangela and Robin Williams. “You Gotta Get A Gimmick” Mr. Sondheim once wrote, but GG’s gimmick is GG. Their free-wheeling comedy stylings and silly songs seem to come from various regions of outer space but the brilliance of their work shone through in that, no matter how non sequitur their thought processes might have seemed, in a moment, it would coalesce and lead to the next song or comedy bit, demonstrating that they knew where they were going at all times, even if we, the audience, couldn’t see it until their punchlines punched us in the face. Whether they gave off the feeling of being artistically avant-garde with their insane yodeling song YO DE LAY IE - YOU, talking about recently developing an allergy to beloved sour cream & onion chips, worries about parenthood to their new plant, Tyrone, or stopping to take bites from his plate of Mac & Cheese (brought to GG by 54B server Luis Palomino), one would think that this wild child was tangentially tangential UNTIL the story about the chips allergy gave way to their song SOUR CREAM & ONION or the bit about Mac & Cheese lead straight into their number I WANT A TO GO BOX. There was structure, there was a script (or at least a bullet point roadmap) and GG, along with his excellent music director Ben Covello, knew where they were and where they wanted to go at all times.

Gabriel has been a denizen of the Brooklyn comedy basements for a while now, honing material, songs, and their very particular style into a kind of “comedy new wave” birthed in that burough from the edgier Gen Z and trans/non-binary communities… and then there is TikTok. Joining GG Wednesday night were JD & Ryan, the musical comedians more commonly known under their viral nom de virals Two Tree Hill. Showing off their deft musicianship, insane comic sensibilities, and the need for meds of some sort, these two handsomes killed it on their first number about the rise of watching porn on Nintendo called NINTENDO WII. For their second feature, they were joined by talented Anaia Williams (Don’t Look Up) performing an “improvised” number sending up a member of the audience in ways that still give little Bobby the giggles when we think about it (no spoilers). But for the rest of the evening, though, it was all GG delivering their stream of conscious comedy and original songs, the best of which was THE BREEZE, sung in tribute to those who don’t want to wear pants in the morning - a novelty song sung in a novelty voice, and on the flip side there was SHINE. This number penned by bestie Esther Fallick was a more serious, smoky tone poem to all the outliers who should never let their light be snuffed. TBH, dear Bobby readers, though GG has a great deal of vocal power and the ability to really pull their voice in a lot of directions, from low growls to tenor shouts, there were times that this excess caused them to land far afield of the intended notes. Now, if this is a deliberate act as part of the comedy… then they are skillfully kidding us, and, if not, they are kidding themselves and should scrub through the music strenuously with Covello to get them back on track. Also, to add a few more raindrops with this rainbow, at one hour the show began to feel a little long, and when it ended at an 1:20 … almost too long. 

In all, my lambs, though Gabriel Generally’s set on Wednesday night moved from hilarious to incomprehensible and back again, we recognize that they definitely have something going on, and anything critical here is not to take away from what we think this exciting young performer can be. With some tightening up, perhaps the eye of a good director, some clarification on their vocals, and some judicious trimming of material, GABRIEL GENERALLY A NIGHT OF HEHE-HAHAS will either make you laugh and scratch your head a little (like Bobby) or just make you laugh a lot. Either way, GG is on their way and we are glad we were there to see it and to give them…

3 ¾ Out Of 5 Rainbows

Follow Gabriel Generally on Instagram HERE.

Keep up With The Insane Two Tree Hill Off Their Linktree: HERE

Credits & Things

Musical Director - Ben Covello

Band - Mark Beyer (Guitar), Matt Demaria (Bass), Nathan Repasz (Drums)

Vocals - Brianna Justine, Thoe Brown, Cole Kennedy, Ries Lundstrum

All photos by yours truly, Bobby Patrick.

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