My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish, and I’m in Therapy!

There’s no doubt that Michael Richard is an excellent actor and a brilliant mimic. He’s a master of timing and has a face that can conjure up a character all by itself. Watching him is by far the best reason to see My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish, and I’m in Therapy!

This one-man show last performed in Johannesburg eight years ago, again with Richard playing the role of a genetically confused New Yorker waiting for his therapist to arrive. The stage set is lovely, with a well-appointed room filled with bookshelves, couches and a piano, where Richard tinkles a few melodies.

The script was written by Steve Solomon, a former teacher who finally turned to his real love of comedy at the age of 55. This is his story, and he’s gone on to write a series of sequels around the reliable if somewhat predictable theme of cross-cultural jokes.

It’s situational comedy rather than a play, with Richard creating a series of characters and playing out one vignette after another. We get to know his Italian mother and Russian Jewish father, his grandparents, his emphysema-filled sister, and several other members of his unsavoury family.

Even a decade ago many of the jokes felt familiar, with no new or edgy ground covered as the character paced the consulting room. Now the script feels positively lame in places, along with a few quips that feel mildly uncomfortably racist. Nothing overt, just a few moments where you think ‘hmmm, I’m not sure that works too well these days.’ There’s a lot of scatological material too, which gets a little low-brow tedious.

The biggest problem is that the script hasn’t aged well, and writing that might have once been fresh and on point has now become flaccid and lame.

Richard is wonderful, delivering all the right actions and emotions as he breezes through the hour and a quarter show with utter panache. There are laughs, to be sure, yet his excellent performance is marred by the pedestrian script.

My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish, and I’m in Therapy! runs until December 21 at the Auto & General Theatre. Tickets from Computicket or from the theatre on 011 883-8606.