At His ‘Worst,’ Bogosian at His Best

Eric Bogosian has indicated that “The Worst of Eric Bogosian” may be his swan song as a solo performer. Let’s hope that such statements are simply part of his act, that he is beginning a decades-long spoof of those performers who conduct 10 or 12 “farewell tours.” It sounds like something he might do, for he knows the vacuity of show-biz cliches as well as any other satirist in sight.

The production, at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse through Saturday and at UC Santa Barbara on May 9, offers some brilliant riffs on show-biz-related topics, as well as excerpts from Bogosian’s repertoire of other kinds of characters.

The “Worst” in the title is appropriate only in that all of Bogosian’s men are extremely tarnished. But as for the quality of the show itself, it’s almost a “best of” compilation.

Hardly anything will be brand-new to his most fervent fans. But his last major solo, “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee,” didn’t play L.A. (though it was briefly in Irvine), and “The Worst of” includes a lot of material from “Coffee.”

He begins as a hunched-up neurotic, seated and with his back to the audience, muttering about “normalcy.” He gradually turns to face the audience, as his thesis about the importance and the difficulty of achieving both fame and wealth--at the same time, please--acquires momentum.

Soon he’s appearing as himself, moving into a glowing but tongue-in-cheek analysis of the power of his own show to transform the audience and, by extension, the world. Or, he finally concedes, his show might become just “a vague memory flushed away” the next morning. He points out that his performance might be truly memorable only if he were to die on stage--not such a far-fetched observation in the era of “Fear Factor.”

Bogosian is busy assailing Hollywood platitudes from the likes of “Forrest Gump” and “Sling Blade” when he suddenly stops the show and portrays an audience member who wants more “catharsis” from Bogosian or “a little positivity.” So he becomes one of his more upbeat characters, a New Age preacher who’s as venal as any of the others.

A few other characters from Bogosian’s gallery take their turns. A homeless man, who subsists on egg salad sandwiches and can recycling, comes as close to recent headlines as Bogosian will allow when he reflects that at least he’s not living in Afghanistan. He begins singing “God Bless America.” No, it’s not an inspirational moment.

Bogosian becomes a drug dealer who describes his greatest sexual pleasures in detail, followed by the antithesis--”Eric, recovering male,” who’s attempting to rid himself of his lust. Next, after embodying an obsequious actor at an audition, Bogosian observes that he hears more “actual groans of pain” when he performs this bit in L.A. than he does at most of his stops. This leads into a scathingly funny attack on celebrity worship.

Three more characters conclude the evening: a wealthy liberal at the barbecue of his country estate, a half-mad man who describes the cycle of water in revoltingly graphic terms (note to Heal the Bay: a possible fund-raiser here?) and a paranoid Luddite who fears that DSL may help machines take over the world.

Bogosian is smart to avoid anything ripped from the headlines, for very little of his material has dated. His performance, staged by Jo Bonney, makes his script sound edgier than it is, and he leaves his audience wanting more. A farewell tour? Say it ain’t so.

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“The Worst of Eric Bogosian,” Freud Playhouse, northeast corner of UCLA campus in Westwood, near Sunset Boulevard and Hilgard Avenue. Today and Saturday, 8 p.m. $35. (310) 825-2101. At UC Santa Barbara on May 9. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.