Review: Pam Ann’s ‘Coffee or Tea… I Drank All the Vodka’ at Joe’s Pub at the Public

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Pam Ann's cameo on Downton Abbey

Pam Ann’s cameo on Downton Abbey

Like certain political candidates in the U.S. presidential election, Reid has no filter and says what she’s thinking and everything is fair game, be it race (she loves black men), cultural differences (need example here), and sexual orientation (she loves her gays, something made abundantly clear from the makeup of the audience).

“I love British Airways,” she tells the audience. “They are cunty” (cue cheers from the audience). As for those not in first or business, “I’m going to board the rest of the plane now. Let the hunger games begin!”

On airline consolidation: “There’s going to be one airline in the future: Emirates,” shrewdly noting that Emirates has so many Airbus A380 superjumbos that “they use the extra ones for taxis in Dubai.”

On airline security, noting how U.S. airlines barricade the cockpit door with what she called an “ISIS protector” (more commonly known as a trolley or cart) when a member of the flight crew exits the flight deck, she envisions would-be terrorists saying “No one told us about the cart in ISIS training” and quietly taking their seats instead of storming the cockpit.

But Pam Ann is also completely current. “Why are JetBlue flight attendants so happy? They’re hoovering up all that cocaine,” she explains in a clear reference to the JetBlue flight attendant who attempted to smuggle 69 pounds of the white powder across the country the past month. Indeed, her JetBlue flight attendant doll has run away but left her bags and shoes behind, she explains.

Her most outrageous comments elicit great howls of laughter and I’m quite certain some repeat members of the audience come with the hope of being on the receiving end of her insults. Her comedy recalls a time when comedians had to censor themselves on television and the radio (Bob Newhart in his situation comedy was a completely different person than Bob Newhart the standup comic and George Carlin was arrested at least once at a live performance for reciting his Seven Dirty Words (found in his album, “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television”).

Don’t get me wrong: this is about as bawdy as it gets and I’m sure my review has been bowdlerized [Editor’s Note: it set off the sprinklers in the office] before going to print.

Still, I haven’t found myself laughing so hard at a show in ages, nor have I enjoyed a meal at a dinner theater as much as the venue’s top-flight cuisine (we feasted on calamari accompanied by chipotle aioli and shishito peppers; lettuce wedges, and deviled eggs, all washed down by Joe’s Risky Business cocktail (vanilla-infused Espolon Tequila, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, lime, and cinnamon).

Pam Ann will be back at Joe’s Pub in August and I already put in a reservation for table 1A. Fasten your seatbelt twice: it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

THE DETAILS

Joe’s Pub at the Public
425 Lafayette Street
New York, N.Y. 10003
www.publictheater.org

(Photos: Accura Media Group)

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