Hey! Political satirist Robert Dubac just called me an unpublishable word, just because I won’t publish another unpublishable word.
Well, son of a bleep!
In response to our free-association quiz, the actor-comedian described Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O’Donnell as “America’s …” well, we just can’t say it. And for not printing it, Dubac said, we’re that other word we can’t print, either.
“And you wonder why the Internet is taking away your readership?” he teased.
“Of course, if you want to play it safe, here are a couple more but don’t say I didn’t warn you when The Denver Post goes under for not having a sense of satire:
“Option A: Christine O’Donnell … ‘The sole reason Rosie O’Donnell is changing her last name to Hitler.’ Or, Option B … ‘Every Republican’s happy ending.’ ”
Dubac calls his peculiar brand of solo comedy “stand-up on steroids.” He made his name in the early ’90s trading on universal relationship foibles with “The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?” That’s a multi-character juggernaut he developed at small theaters all over Denver and has toured internationally ever since. He debuted the sequel, “The 2nd Coming,” at Curious Theatre in 2006, and is now working on the final installment of that solo trilogy, “Piss and Moan.”
His new show, “Free Range Thinking,” opening Saturday at the Denver Center’s Galleria Theatre, is decidedly more pointed. Dubac, who identifies himself as a “repubmocrat-demolican,” and describes his religious views as, “Blond, as in . . . “Ohmygod!” targets hypocrisy in politics, religion and the media. He calls his new show “offensive to some; laughter for all.”
So, Bob, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when we say . . .
John Hickenlooper? “Say that three times real fast and you pass the drunk-driving test.”
Sarah Palin? “English is her second language.”
Mel Gibson? “He certainly got Michael Richards off the hook.”
Glenn Beck? “A great defender of F-r-e-e-d-u-m-b of Speech.”
Was 9/11 an inside job?: “I can’t comment, or they’ll kill me.”
We caught up on other burning issues as well.
Q: What’s your take on Obama’s presidency so far?
A: Health care and stem-cell research will be his downfall. Not only will it keep old Republicans alive longer, it will fix the mentally challenged ones, as well.
Q: With your new show, who, or what, is most directly in your crosshairs?
A: I go after more of the “what” than the “who.” I’m more concerned with the idiocracy that created the idiots than the idiots themselves. For example, idiocracy isn’t even a word. How stupid.
Q: Given how truly messed up things are in the world, how in God’s name are you going to make that funny in your show?
A: First, I’m not going to do it in God’s name, as that would be blasphemous. And we’re Americans; we love to make fun of our mistakes and laugh at our neighbors’ lack of shame. Good God . . . oops! . . . we invented reality TV and the Darwin Awards, didn’t we? “Free Range Thinking” caters to our basic love of a good whine.
Q: So, seriously, what is it going to take to turn this country around?
A: If you’re looking for directions on the prosperity highway, just remember two wrongs don’t make a right — but two wrongs on Fox News make a political right.
Q: Is organized religion making things better or worse?
A: The fact that an atheist has never set himself up in a duck blind to shoot at people exiting an abortion clinic sort of gives you that answer, doesn’t it?
Q: And, finally, is the intellectual man no longer an oxymoron?
A: Correct. Now he’s a target. I’ll be here for four weeks. Bring ammo.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“Free Range Thinking”
One-man political comedy. Galleria Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets. Written and performed by Robert Dubac. Through Nov. 14. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. $27-$38. 303-893-4100 or
