Variety Shows at The Pink Offer Colorful Shades of Offbeat Talent

When producer Wendy Slutsky came to Los Angeles five years ago from her native Canada, she was looking for some sort of live variety show, much like the one she produced in Toronto.

She wasn’t looking for a cabaret or a comedy show or a series of one-act plays, just a genuine night of variety: a bit of comedy, a blues number, a folk song, a movie clip, some dance, some drama.

“I couldn’t find it; there was no such thing!” Slutsky said. “I was surprised that a place with as much talent as L.A. didn’t have a regular night of diverse entertainment. A lot of talented friends here didn’t have a showcase that was relaxed and non-competitive.”

So last October, Slutsky created a monthly show that is now regarded as an avant-garde “Ed Sullivan Show.” It’s an alternative to the barrage of comics foisted on audiences at comedy nights or the unpredictable music by the band du jour playing on the Sunset Strip.

This is a real variety show offering a potpourri of performances, a really big show featuring a hodgepodge of whatever Los Angeles has to offer. From country bands to folk singing, from raunchy feminist comediennes to funky film shorts, from rap poetry to music videos, from familiar TV stars to virtual neophytes--everyone gets a shot, and everyone gets paid.

Slutsky scours the town each month to collect Los Angeles’ finest and weirdest talent and puts it in a show that gets sold out to audiences of mostly actors, agents, casting directors and managers in show business. But, she said, it’s family entertainment, too.

“I didn’t mean it to become a total industry audience,” Slutsky said. “. . . That’s fine, but I’d like everyone else to come see it, too.”

Her show, “Wednesday Night at The Pink” is slowly being transformed to “The Monday Night Show” at The Pink in Santa Monica, because that is an off-night for most theaters in town. She picks a short monologue, song or scene from various long-running shows around town and mixes them with other original acts. That way, actors and crews involved in shows get a chance to see pieces of other shows in town as well as new talent they might never have seen. Originally, her idea was simply to provide a place for her talented and unemployed friends to hone their performance skills.

“There’s such an enormous amount of talent here, but there’s never any place that is ‘safe’ to just try something new,” said Slutsky, who formed Henhouse Productions.

Outrageous comedian ANT (his real name; he changed it legally) agreed it’s nice to perform in a place without cutthroat competition. A veteran of The Comedy Store and The Improv, ANT said, “It’s so different not having to worry about who’s coming on just before you, and counting how many laughs they got, and worrying about how to top them.”

ANT is host at the show Monday night, the day after he provides the cable-show commentary on the Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade in West Hollywood. Yes, ANT is openly gay, but unlike many such comedians, he started with an audience following in mainstream clubs and is only now known in the alternative club circuit.

“There’s no FILTH in my act!” insisted ANT, who comes across as a petite version of Richard Simmons with panache.

Raised in New Hampshire, the perky, plucky comedian with a Puckish wit does stand-up comedy as a dialogue with the audience rather than as a monologue. He tours clubs throughout the country, including the Midwest and South, and enjoys traditional, conservative audience members, who tell him they’ve never met anyone who is openly gay.

“If I can prevent one person from being bashed out there because someone saw me and thought, ‘Well, he was gay, and he was cool,’ then I’ve done my job,” said ANT, who is also appearing on Power 106 Radio’s “Morning Show.” “I answer all the questions my straight friends ask about me. It’s not really a big part of my act, but it’s not something I will hide. Some people refuse to believe I am, so I have to knock on their head and yell ‘HELLO!’ ”

ANT is one of the acts Slutsky enjoyed in town. She trusts her nose for talent after producing the Second City National Touring Company for the past decade and, in fact, now works as a television project producer for Disney in Burbank.

“I want people to laugh in a different way, and I want to give new performers a break,” said Slutsky, who also co-produced Comic Relief Canada and produced specials for MTV and Jonathan Winters. “Who knows, I may help discover the next Seinfeld or The Doors or some other new ‘90s talent.”

What started as a showcase for out-of-work friends has become the playground for hot talent. Robin Duke, formerly of “Saturday Night Live” and last seen in the film “Groundhog Day,” was host at a past show, and so was comic Margaret Smith, who has appeared on “The Tonight Show” seven times.

Some have gained notoriety because of their appearance at The Pink. Anita Wise landed an NBC special. Beth Lapides made it in People magazine after declaring her candidacy for First Lady. Daniel Bucatinsky tried out his sketch comedy “Fear of Crashing” with Robin Shipleu. He landed a personal manager and ICM agent after their gig, and Shipleu got her own agent.

An admitted comedy snob, Slutsky said, “They all have to make me laugh or cry or feel something. Usually, the standard level of intelligence in comedy is mediocre. I want good acts.”

The acts come from across the country, such as the New York comedy troupe Full Frontal Comedy; and even outside the country, such as the five-piece band brought from Toronto by musician Hendrik Riik, who plays at the show every month as The Basic Food Group.

Other notables at The Pink include comic Suzie Plakson, singer Carol Pope and jazz group La Dolce Gina. The Keegan and Lloyd comedy duo performed one of their poignant sketches about love; Tom Allen, who created “Tony and Tina’s Wedding,” took the stage to talk about his love handles, and Amy Altshuld talked about being a Jewish cowgirl.

This month, along with ANT is poet Mick Farren, African-American comedian Sherri Shepherd and country/folk musician Phillip Kennard, who just finished his second album in Nashville.

Slutsky is in the middle of negotiating a television deal. “This is a great concept for TV, a hip and unpredictable show where you don’t know who will be in the audience or what will be on stage,” she said. “It’s as offbeat as MTV, but it’s as mainstream as prime time.”*

“The Monday Night Show,” on Monday, begins at 8 p.m., $7 at The Pink, 2810 Main St., Santa Monica. For reservations, call (310) 477-6701.