HOLLYWOOD—The mesmerizing Jake Broder incarnates the 1950s cult lounge performer Lord Buckley on a headlong ride through the late beat philosopher’s oeuvre. A hot-jazz trio backs Broder as he bops through resurrected spoken-word riffs on the Swinging Pied Piper, Jesus of Nazareth (“The Nazz”), and the “Gettysburg Address,” cruising the hairpin turns of Buckley’s careening mind. Broder gives Buckley none of the standup comic’s yearning to be liked; he works the room not for laughs but for moments of mind-expanding exhilaration. The actor’s ardent delivery produces the sensation of giddy free fall that won over such Buckley fans as Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and Robin Williams.
Jake Broder (Geffen’s Louis and Keely, Kevin Spacey’s “Beyond the Sea,” Broadway’s “Amadeus,” “When Harry Met Sally in the West End”) reignites the amazing routines of cult comic and faux aristocrat Lord Buckley. His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley in The Zam Zam Room is a fizzy cocktail of style and substance, featuring “the hippest stories in storydom” backed by a live jazz band. Willie the Shake blows a breezy be-bop fable and a jive talking Jesus epitomizes cannabis cool with “The Nazz.” Along with “The Gettysburg Address” and nightly doses of “The Hip News” and many others, His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley in “The Zam Zam Room” will “blow your wig away.”
Lord Buckley single-handedly brought “Hip Semantic” into the mainstream in the 1950s. One of the most influential figures of American counter-culture, Lord Buckley inspired a host of visionary performers, including Lenny Bruce, Robin Williams, Richard Prior, as well as Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Thelonious Monk and Frank Sinatra. “Buckley was the hipster bebop preacher who defied all labels,” wrote Bob Dylan in his memoir Chronicles. “”¦(He) was a raging storyteller who did riffs on all kinds of things from supermarkets to bombs and the crucifixion. He did raps on characters like Gandhi and Julius Caesar”¦ Buckley had a magical way of speaking. Everybody, including me, was influenced by him in one way or another.”
WHEN: Tuesday, July 13, and Wednesday, July 14, at 8 p.m.
WHERE: The Inner Circle at the Magic Castle® – 7001 Franklin Ave. in Hollywood
TICKETS: $25 available through boxoffice@magiccastle.com or 323-851-3313 x303
WHAT/WHO: The Magic Castle is transformed into the hippest nightclub in town for “An Evening with His Royal Hipness, Lord Buckley.” The politically topical, Jake Broder, star and co-writer of the acclaimed “Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara,” takes off on a sonic adventure of spoken word and music, celebrating the life of the iconic, subversive, ultra hipster. Featuring Michael Lanahan, Derek Yellin (Piano), Michael Solomon (Drums), Ryan Feves (Bass).
