& Taxes ★★★★

Death and comedy are intertwined. Its irony lies in the act of looking back, the futility of gazing forward, and the inability to do anything about that. For Michael Thomas Kennedy, the prospect of death is an opportunity to become a stand-up comic. It’s clear that & Taxes finds finality hilarious – and convinces the audience to do so as well.

The opening of the show foreshadows the tonal shifts that feature heavily in Kennedy’s set. He writes and stars as Jasper the Ghost, who, through a series of ludicrous familial issues told through an impressions bit, has found himself facing the end.

The show follows a standup routine centered around a bucket list – Jasper wants to find meaning through ticking off several goals. When faced with eternity, Jasper wants a semblance of accomplishment. His first is to become a stand-up comic. Other items include finding love, doing a good deed, and giving up material possessions. It sounds easy on paper, but it really isn’t.

Neither is having a bucket list in the first place. As Kennedy’s knack for absurdity leads him to come up with strange ways to fulfill the bucket list, he eventually turns to the audience, wanting to tick something off their own bucket lists. This is where the show excels: in its use of the audience as an observer to Jasper’s set. The audience accepts death with a warm touch.

This technique in many cases can feel contrived if audience interaction doesn’t fuel the thematic undercurrent of the show, but by making them a participant, Kennedy strikes an intimate chord between the observer and the ghost. Complicated though this relationship is, with many lines berating the audience, picking on people, and stumbling on top of and over chairs. These moments demonstrate that Jasper isn’t exactly the perfect comic – though who is?

Breathing life into the writing is the minimal direction by Emma Kate Harris, who utilizes the stark costuming and makeup of the ghost, a ghost clown, really, to stand out amongst the black box. Its sparse use of audio tech is delightful in the opening.

Kennedy’s vulnerability as the ghost shines. His journey as a neurotic spirit almost sticks the landing – save for some rough patches in its structure. There could have been more of an incorporation of the ghost’s life before death into the set itself. One is left wanting more personal anecdotes, as this would have better contextualized the bucket list.

Nevertheless, it is clear that Kennedy’s send-up of the stand-up genre stands out as a set that incorporates philosophical musings on death while being simultaneously personal with its central character – though it is a wonder what a show would’ve looked like incorporating a deeper touch with Kennedy as the writer.

This production was reviewed in preview ahead of the Fringe at The Tank, NYC