Award-winning, critically acclaimed UK/Australian cult sensation makes Off-Broadway debut.
April 18 - June 9 at Theatre Row Theaters
★★★★★ “Randy the literary puppet had his audience roaring with laughter from beginning to end… unusual and very, very funny.” – Broadway Baby
“Seamless is the relationship between the puppeteer and his conduit, who is gifted with manic muppet energy and colourful vocabulary.” – The Scotsman
“Within minutes, we are complicit in the idea that this is a form of art genuinely come to life… takes the audience in a ride through suspension of belief and has us laughing the whole way.” – TheaterBubble
“A visceral treat and testament to the range of contortions a skilled puppeteer can extract from a simple doll… Randy consistently comes out with material far better than most of his human peers." – Fest (UK)
★★★★★ "Poignant, incredibly intelligent and ultimately hilarious." – Shortcom (UK)
He has headlined with Neil Patrick Harris in Montreal, won Outstanding Show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, starred on his own Netflix show in the UK, and been nominated (controversially) for an ACCTA Award, the Australian equivalent of an Emmy. Now felt-faced performance sensation RANDY sets his sights on conquering the US with the Off-Broadway premiere of RANDY WRITES A NOVEL. Written, performed and directed by Randy, previews begin April 18 at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre with opening night slated for Monday, April 23.
After being married, divorced, arrested, kidnapped and thrown from a moving hovercraft, occasionally sober entertainer Randy has just written his first novel and he wants to share a staged reading of it with you. Cursed with stagefright, he begins rambling and ends up sharing a memorable – and very funny, not to mention very adult – discourse on everything from Buddhist thought to the wisdom of McDonald’s home delivery service to whether Hemingway’s artistic genius was enough to compensates for him being a terrible human being. Randy may share the complexion of Barney the Dinosaur, RANDY WRITES A NOVEL promises to leave you questioning the meaning of life.
“I should add a disclaimer,” notes Randy. “This show is not some f****** life-changing, huge philosophical insight into the world and everything in it. It's just a few ideas. I'm not solving any of the world's problems."
RANDY WRITES A NOVEL is produced by Emerging Artists Theater and Red Spear Production. It features lighting by Roger Cooper and Sound by Adam Weinstock.
In the past thirteen years RANDY has given birth to half a dozen critically acclaimed solo shows. He has appeared at Fringe and Comedy festivals from Edinburgh to Hong Kong, Galway to Montreal, Singapore to Sydney and almost everywhere in between. He has hosted galas, recorded specials, performed a few times at The Sydney Opera House, released an album and a couple of DVDs, been nominated for two ARIAs (Australian Grammys) and featured on the Neil Patrick Harris Gala at the 2015 Montreal Just For Laughs Festival. In 2010 Randy joined forces with comedian Sammy J to create Ricketts Lane, which won Best Show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and went on to become a television series of the same name, airing on ABC TV in Australia, Seeso in the US and Netflix in the UK. Randy's role in Sammy J & Randy in Ricketts Lane earned him an ACTAA (Australian Emmys) nomination for best performer in a comedy series in 2015. In 2016 Randy Writes a Novel was nominated for best comedy at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and went on to a season at the Soho Theatre in London as well as the 2017 Montreal Just For Laughs Festival, where Randy also appeared on the Jane Krakowski Television Gala.
RANDY WRITES A NOVEL runs April 18 – June 9 at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues). Performances are Tuesday - Thursday at 7pm, Friday & Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm. Running time is 80 minutes. Tickets are $81.25, available at 212-239-6200 or visit www.telecharge.com.