Review: A Horse Walks Into a Bar

A Horse Walks Into a Bar by David Grossman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have you ever been asked to attend a performance by an acquaintance to support them? I’ve attended piano student concerts and Second City graduations, among other things. But what if the performance isn’t anything like you and the rest of the audience expected. That’s what you get here. The audience, including our narrator, are expecting a stand up comedy routine. What they get is closer to a performance art bit tied to a personal monologue, with some jokes thrown in in an attempt to keep the crowd calm and happy. You start thinking it’s stand up, but the comedian slowly interweaves his personal story into the comedy. You can feel for the audience as they trickle out of the performance, because the life story is harsh, and the comedy is often not so funny. But by the end, you feel for the comedian, describing some of the most difficult times of his life, and you feel for the few invited acquaintances who remain in the audience, and who were allowed to share in the grief and pain and to understand why they were invited. I like this more on reflection. Makes me wish I could walk on my hands.

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