Janeane Garafalo

Luv Doc Writings, The Luv Doc Recommends

FEB. 1, 2002

The Paramount Theatre is one of those ancient, ornate, neo-classical structures we like to keep around for occasions of pomp and circumstance. While others of its kind have suffered the mild indignity of being renovated into proletarian structures like discos, pool halls, and record stores, the Paramount has been restored to a decent semblance of its original design. The result is a certain weathered elegance. Like a grandmother’s plastic-covered sitting room, the Paramount is swank digs to the mud covered kid of Austin’s collective cultural consciousness. So every once in a while when someone important is in town we pull off the slip covers and pretend it’s the living room, but of course, we’re not fooling anyone – certainly not acerbic, quick witted comediennes like Janeane Garafalo, who pays a visit to the Paramount this Saturday night. It would be an understatement to say that Janeane is one of the paragons of nineties slacker cynicism. Since her earliest days on Ben Stiller and Larry Sanders shows, Garafalo has made a name for herself by railing against the hypocrisy, inanity, and unforgivable mediocrity of mainstream middle class society – ironically the same stratum that provides the bulk of her fan base. Fortunately, Austin is chock-full of cynical middle class intellectuals, which should make for a large, enthusiastic crowd smart enough to know that the joke is partially on them. Maybe you should take a dip in this Olympic-sized dating pool.