Just for Laughs Review – Steve Rannazzisi at Café Cléopatra, July 23, 2016

Steve Rannazzisi at Café Cléopatra, July 23, 2016 (Photo by Joseph Fuda).

Steve Rannazzisi
Café Cléopatra
July 23, 2016

Steve Rannazzisi, best known as the befuddled Kevin from FX’s The League, has had a turbulent year. In September 2015 he admitted that for years he had been carrying on an elaborate lie about “escaping” from the Twin Towers on 9/11. So with a new stand-up show titled “Welcome Back,” it appeared that Rannazzisi was finally ready to tackle the fabrication head-on in front of his audience. While that didn’t exactly happen, he did toss of a mention of being “a known liar” towards the tail end of his set, acknowledging the elephant in the room while making a concerted choice to not focus on the past.

Rannazzisi came out of the gate strong, regaling the crowd with stories of dealing with his two sons, the oldest of which is constantly messing with his younger sibling on a physical and psychological level that is pretty impressive / disturbing for a 7-year-old. He also touched on his encounters with fans of The League, generally stoned 27-year olds who shiva-blast him when he’s out shopping with his children.

Throughout his set, Rannazzisi often came across a brighter version of his character from The League, dropping in references to football plays and sports stars as if he was still kibitzing on the couch with his former co-stars. His rapport with the crowd was a highlight of the night, including a great awkward moment when he grilled a family seated in front of the stage on their porn preferences. That sort of alpha-male attitude may tun people off, but Rannazzisi kept the tone light and fun throughout, and never fully crept over into creepy-bro territory.

With this new material, Rannazzisi is choosing to move on from his past mistake by concentrating on the everyman humour that served him so well on The League. Acknowledging the incident was a nice touch, and judging by the crowd’s reaction last night, they have definitely put it behind them (if they were ever aware of it at all). Welcome back.

Steve Rannazzisi performs at Café Cleopatra (1230 St-Laurent) through July 30 at 9:00 pm. Tickets are $20.87, available at hahaha.com.

Gabriel Sigler