The twisted minds behind the popular “Los Comicos Super Hilariosos” show will unleash their latest brainchild at Denver’s on Jan. 28. Dubbed “The Grawlix,” the show aims to continue the loose, hip vibe of “Los Comicos” while polishing the atmosphere — just a bit.
“We’re all kinds of excited to play around with a theater that has more toys, so we’ll be mocking a lot of theatrical conventions and doing more sketch comedy,” said , a member of the increasingly loose Wrist Deep Productions team that puts on the show. “Ideas are flying out of our heads and we’re having to edit down for the first show. For lack of a better word, we’re all kind of excited to be a little goofier. That said, we will drop a dick joke.”
Wrist Deep, which includes Greg Baumhauer, Ben Roy, Jim Hickox and Andrew Orvedahl, ran “Los Comicos” at Old Curtis Street Bar and then the Orange Cat Studios for the last four years, frequently selling out and welcoming cred-heavy stand-ups such as Arj Barker (“Flight of the Conchords”), Maria Bamford (“The Comedians of Comedy”), Tig Notaro (“The Sarah Silverman Program”), Moshe Kasher (“Chelsea Lately”), Kyle Kinane (“Funny People”) and others.
The team decided to kill the show after the Orange Cat changed hands in order to preserve the smart, experimental vibe — which has garnered comparisons to nationally-renowned comedy havens like the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater’s “Comedy Death-Ray” in Los Angeles.
“There was something pretty special about the (Orange Cat), so we all kind of agreed we’d do the punk rock thing and kill it before it became some bastardized, sadder version of what it was. It’s giving birth to something new that’s just as good, but its own different beast.”
So what the hell is a grawlix?
“Itap when there’s a swear word spelled with asterisks and exclamation points in a comic strip,” Cayton-Holland said. “Itap one of those pretentious things that we make you look up so you feel smart. But it also sounds like a mythological beast.”
The show will take place at 10:30 p.m. the last Friday of each month at 417 E. 17th Ave. and cost $7.
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John Wenzel is an executive editor of and an award-winning A&E reporter for The Denver Post. He is the author of (Speck Press/Fulcrum) and maintains a of completely random song titles and band names.
