Tantrum plays TWICE in November

First up: Last chance to see Tantrum: Making a Scene

Tantrum's last show at the KC Public Library, Plaza Branch (4801 Main) is Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 7pm. The show is free, the wine bar is cash only and the space is terrific. Don't miss it.

Then: It's Tantrum + The Union

You know that point during the Thanksgiving weekend where you realize you MUST. GET. OUT. OF. THE. HOUSE? We've got somewhere for you to go. And it doesn't even conflict with any MEANINGFUL football (i.e. KU, MU or UT).

Friday, Nov. 28, at 8om, KC's Tantrum and Chicago's The Union take the stage at the Westport Coffeehouse Theatre. The Union features KC's own Corey Rittmaster and Monique Madrid, now making the funny in Chicago. The Express Milwaukee says this about their sketch show: "Sharp writing was delivered impeccably."

Tickets are 10 bucks. Doors open at 7:30. Everyone goes to McCoy's (or The Foundry) after.

Tantrum's Rob Grabowski=Pitch's Best Funny Performer

Rob Grabowski (center), shown at the KC Improv Festival with Michael Montague Jr., Josh Steinmetz and Pete Calderone. (Photo by Rita Marks)

The Pitch says this:

A long, lean guy with a look of high-plains blankness and a mind that churns much faster than his face lets on, longtime improviser Rob Grabowski gets audiences howling without seeming to try. He's soft-spoken, often still, and not given to spouting off whatever crazy thoughts come to him. Instead, he tends to make each crazy thought real, reacting to the comic strangeness around him in ways that real people would. This makes funny ideas funnier. His other gift is for elevating the everyday to the truly strange. At a Tantrum show this past summer, a scene about him trying to pick chewing gum off the ground and then properly disposing of it developed into a miniature suite of modern-day anxieties: germophobia, the guilt over not recycling, and the need to look like you worry about these things more than you really do. Subdued in demeanor but manic inside, Grabowski not only sees all the possibilities of a comic situation but also works through the best of them with rare patience, discipline and intelligence.

Congrats, Rob!

(And to everybody else: See what the fuss is about at our next show, October 15.)