As the old saying goes, variety is the spice of life. Mesh that with the creatively eclectic and vast comedic mind of Paul F. Tompkins, and you’ve got yourself all the makings of a feelgood utopia, or rather a Varietopia, to call home — even when it travels city to city.
With a freshly updated edition of his long-running live show Varietopia, which takes on the City Winery stage for two sold out shows on Thursday (May 2), Tompkins is wielding a Willy Wonka-level world of pure imagination and comedic endurance as he flexes each of his expansive comedy muscles. With elements of stand-up, music, improv, character work and multimedia all thrown into a veritable mixing bowl of talent and comedic perspectives, the Comedy Bang! Bang! Star is looking forward to wearing all of his long-worn artistic hats at the same time in Boston as he brings this show to town for the very first time.
Although the multi-faceted show has been in existence since the early 2000s, Tompkins is excited for what the show has grown into just in the last few years since bringing it back to a more regular schedule.
“I’ve been doing this show off and on for about 20 years, having started doing it at Largo in Los Angeles. I remember loving variety shows as a kid, so I wanted to do something like that as the club started to do more comedy,” Tompkins tells Vanyaland. “There were times where I may have gotten too busy with other things and we would stop doing the show for a little while then came back to it and start it back up again, with the last time I stopped doing it being in 2014. I really hadn’t thought about doing it again because I was doing a lot of podcasting, so learning improv as a new skill was really interesting to me at the time, and then after quarantine let up, I had all that time to think about what I wanted to do, and I realized that i really missed that kind of performance, so I started doing regular shows with it again in 2021.”
Along with the musical direction of Jordan Katz, Tompkins has curated what he feels is the tightest show in its history, due to both a firm structure of a show that he can lean on as well as enough flexibility to allow for a fun spontaneity. From the beginning, those elements have worked tremendously in Tompkins’ eyes, and in turn, have helped him achieve what he felt the show was capable of all along.
“The idea is that the show is the star of the show, and the elements that I have assembled will be good. It shouldn’t be whether you’ve heard of someone or not that decides whether you come to the show or not, because it’s going to be an entertaining show,” says Tompkins. “What audiences can expect is more than their money’s worth of entertainment, that these shows are very joyous, and that they’re sort of life affirming in a way. It’s just about feeling good while not being saccharin or corny. It’s everyone working at the top of their game, so it’s just a really fun mixture of things.”
Being able to air out all of his favorite comedic and generally creative elements is one thing, as the show certainly demands a specific type of attention, Tompkins has become quite fond of not only the finished product that hits the stage every night, but also the process it takes to get there. Not to mention, the reaction to everything it took for Tompkins to get from planning to performing is a special aspect that truly makes it all worth it for him.
“Honestly, the excitement from the audience toward the guests is my favorite part of the show. When people come, sometimes it’s people they’ve heard of and I hear the surprise in their voices and reactions, which is so fun,” says Tompkins. “If there’s someone they haven’t heard of before, the response after, about how someone may have just discovered a new favorite artist is just such a great feeling.”
The mystery and wonder of the show is one thing, but something else that Tompkins points out as one of the show’s greatest exports is its naturally light and happy makeup, and the connection between the players that help keep the train rolling.
“It’s not a cynical show, so it’s kind of default positive. Whatever kind of art people are doing, these are people with passions, and who are deeply invested in what they do, so they’re working to their level to put on a good show,” says Tompkins. “There’s a lot of camaraderie on stage, to the point where everyone really becomes a fan of each other if they haven’t met before. The vibe of the space is always just really fun and happy, and it’s just a special thing. You want people to laugh, of course, but you also want them to feel a certain thing, and you want to give them a good vibe, and that aspect really means a lot to me.”
Although the overall vibe of the show is all about keeping it light and fun, Tompkins and his mystery cast of comedy comrades don’t necessarily shy away from touching on how much of a horror show the world is currently. But first and foremost, the goal is to entertain and help bring laughter into the world, and the Philadelphia native is excited to bring those laughs back to east coast.
“I love being back on the east coast and being a place that reminds of growing up in Philadelphia with that specific vibe,” says Tompkins. “The closer I get to home, the more ‘Philly’ I become, so it really takes me back to when I was starting out as a young man learning comedy, so to be able to return to the east coast after being able to realize my dream of being able to make this my living, it’s very meaningful to me, being back in these places where I went through some scary times of figuring out what I was going to do, and wanting so fervently to be good at it. So, to be back again as a professional entertainer is very meaningful for me.”
PAUL F. TOMPKINS: VARIETOPIA :: Thursday, May 2 at City Winery, 80 Beverly St. in Boston, MA :: 6 and 9:30 p.m., $30 to $45 :: Advance tickets