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Review: Mandal – $$$$$$
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This past summer I had the pleasure of watching Mandal as part of Josh Johnson's Comedy Band Camp and was blown away by the fun performance getting the show to a powerful start, so it was with great excitement I started watching Mandal's $$$$$$.
If you're of a certain age, the aesthetic of this special will bring back fond memories of a simpler time when television may have lacked some of the polish that we see today but was full of heart in a way that is missing from many modern shows. Tevin "The Mandal Man" Williams is an Atlanta-born, L.A.-based comedian who cut his teeth in clubs before hitting the stages of late night television, and one thing that follows through all his performances is a genuine, amiable nature.
$$$$$$ was filmed at the Brooklyn Second City Theatre with a live band and a packed house. The energy was epic, the video itself was a deliberately lo-fi affair with cameras that would drift out of focus and get a bit of a shake from time to time tracking Mandal, but it all fit the aesthetic. Mandal entered in a vintage 70s tux with a big bowtie and frilly shirt, and he had the big energy to pull this off.
The first thing to understand about this set is it's a dense experience with a high-octane laugh-per-minute count. This is not a low-key affair. If you had to compare this to a concert, it would be a 70s funk experience, much like the stage, band, and tux all conjure. Mandal starts with an immediately relatable bit about the addictive quality of Instagram and its misinformation stream, but from here it launches into a series of bits ranging from medical care to aquariums to the street that students at his childhood school grew up on, ending on the most beautiful callback I've seen in a long time.
One of the most amazing parts of the set is when he utterly flips the momentum, holding a bit to its absolute breaking point, and it's a thing of beauty. Mandal is a master of controlling the crowd – he knows how to bring them on board and keep the energy rolling, and it's just as fun to watch on his special as it is to watch in person.
Not content for a simple special drop, Mandal partnered with Donald Glover's Gilga as well as Blonde Medicine to put out the special and album on YouTube and streaming services, but it's the vinyl and VHS vintage formats that fill me with joy. In an era where platform holders are taking away the art we consume, there's a magic to owning a piece of something in a vintage format.
In the lead up to the release of the special, on October 26 at 9 PM Mandal will be doing a 12-hour livestream leading up to the 9 PM premiere. It will include a host of events including a game show and dance tournament, as well as appearances by Big Boi and Sleepy Brown.
As a fan of comedy, I cannot recommend this special highly enough.
Tags: Mandal, Comedy, Second City, Josh Johnson, 70s, Retro, Vintage, $$$$$$, stand-up, comedy special
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