Gerry Hosts Toast comedy night

A Melrose native who is heading to Los Angeles to chase dreams of love and laughter, in that order, acted as host Aug. 27, for the final time in the Boston area Friday night, at Toast in Union Square.

Derek Gerry is used to hosting comedy nights, having spent the past two years honing that craft in clubs in and around Somerville and Cambridge. Filling in for the otherwise occupied Baratunde, who ended his Comic-in-residence stint at the Comedy Studio the same weekend, Gerry surrounded himself with a potpourri of talent.

Once again, the comedians at Somerville News Comedy Night at Toast proved to be an eclectic mix, treating their audience to varied points of view on topics ranging from the Olympics, girlfriends, hypochondria and red lights at intersections.

Joining Gerry for the ride were Korte Yeo, Alana Devitch, Eric Cheung, and Myq Kaplan. Gerry welcomed the crowd with the remark that there were more people present in the cool depths of Toast than there were all over downtown Boston the week of the Democratic National Convention.

He continued on the topic, noting that the lengths the city went through to prevent terrorist attacks were unnecessary. “We shouldn’t have changed a thing about Boston. The terrorists would have been lost all week. I could just picture a couple of terrorists stuck at a rotary; ‘Mapquest say nothing!’”

Although Gerry said he is moving to L.A. to reunite with an old flame, the wonders of reading personal ads apparently have stuck with him. “Hmm, ‘DWF’. ‘Desperate White Female’! This looks good! ‘No D & D’? Well, I haven’t played ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ in years!”

Gerry brought on the first comic of the night, Korte Yeo. Yeo’s set was filled with wry observations of his everyday world, like the sign he sees everyday on Storrow Drive. “‘If you lived here, you’d be home by now’, it says. Yeah, if I lived there, I’d also be a billionaire.”

He said considers himself a traditionalist, because he still clings to things that went out of fashion in the ‘80s, like stopping at a red light.

With charming incredulousness, Yeo explained how after stopping at a light, he was actually chastised from the driver behind him, who insisted Yeo had stopped at a fresh red. “Now I stop at green lights, in case that guy is coming the other way.”

Gerry returned to welcome the next act, but not before offering suggestions to make the Olympics more interesting. “I think they should have more incentives. Swimming? Once the first swimmer is out, they should throw a toaster in the pool.”

Next was Somerville’s Alana Devitch. Early on, Devitch admitted that she did not bring her set list along, which made for more a free-flowing, stream of thought-influenced delivery, marked by her reliance on material referring to her lesbian lifestyle. “I have had relationships with men, so I am not a ‘Gold Star Lesbian’,” said Devitch.

Realizing that nobody present seemed to know whether or not lifelong lesbians are indeed classified as ‘Gold Star,’ Devitch went on a roll. “Whatever I say is Bible, then! This is Gay 101!”

Eric Cheung entered the spotlight with a relaxed, confident air that had been missing from his past performances.

Perhaps it was his state of mind, as he quickly announced that he was high on Claritin. Cheung received laughs for his clever line about going to see the doctor. “I was diagnosed with everything, except hypochondria.”

He observed the ironic band names of the headliners at a recent EarthFest concert. “Garbage and Midnight Oil. What, Clubbing Baby Seals were not available?”

After Cheung’s set, Gerry mentioned that the young Chinese/Italian comic has generated interest in Los Angeles. Let’s hope it’s not for what Gerry said it was. “Eric Cheung is going to save (Friends spin-off) ‘Joey’ in L.A.”

The night’s headliner, Myq Kaplan, is a Toast veteran, having provided entertainment to the hundreds of thousands of guests at Somerville News’ ‘Society Party’ at Toast, back in April. “I was here before the fire, when it was called ‘Bread.’”

He also opened with a great line: “Let’s have another round of applause–when I’m done.”
Kaplan’s distinct brand of humor, marrying traditional topics such as relationships with offbeat plays on words, played well with the lively group. He noticed that there was a new store, called GAP Body. “Isn’t that what The GAP was for in the first place? Will there be a GAP for the Mind? ‘Does this make my soul look fat?”

He also railed against people who can’t look at themselves in pictures. “‘I’m ugly in that picture!’” He frowned. “I can see you. Photos don’t trump reality.”

He considers himself a positive guy, who gives kids confidence with helpful words like ‘the sky’s the limit!” Once, a child told him he wanted to be an astronaut. Kaplan’s response: “Too bad, the sky’s the limit.”

Once again, the comics united for Somerville News Comedy Night at Toast delivered on a promise of free yuks in the cool, funky atmosphere of Somerville’s hippest watering hole.

Sept. 3 the comedians give way to poetry, as Somerville News Poetry Night at Toast continues with a unique headliner, David Slavitt, Republican candidate for state representative for the 26th Middlesex district.