Midnight Kalan is described on the website as a faux talk-show where anything can happen, including ninja attacks. This week the guest was Stephen Colbert of The Daily Show, so I was excited for some crazy antics. The show opened with the theme song of “Quantum Leap” then Elliot Kalan (the host) came out to do a pre-talk show monolog which mostly consisted on how excited he was about his new shirt. Kalan is an obviously very bright, associate segment producer for The Daily Show (hence the guest appearance by Colbert) who needs a couple of more years of practice to get into his groove. He had some moments of brilliance, but between them are many awkward silences. He converses with his R2D2 sidekick way past the point of amusement, goes into a strange Rambo tirade and regularly has to take direction from technical director Joe Guercio. On the other hand his interview with Colbert was very comfortable and friendly, like watching two friends chat across a dinner table. He also brought on a “sexpert” to teach us about butt plugs and handed out free pizza at intermission, so it wasn’t all bad. I hope Kalan sticks it out. I won’t be back to see him anytime soon, but I’m sure after a couple more years of practice he’s gonna be brilliant.
Midnight Kalan is every other Friday at Juvie Hall on Bond St. between 3rd Ave and Lafayette. The next show will be a special Saturday edition on Sept 24th at 8pm and the guests will be Ed Helms and Will Hines.