Stuart Low
Staff writer
(October 20, 2006) ? Until now, you could find a baby with a football-shaped head and a talking boozehound in only one place. Family Guy on Fox is an irreverent look at an unabashedly dysfunctional family. This weekend, the Downstairs Cabaret Theatre will get a taste of the popular cartoon with a one-man show by Canadian comic Brian Froud.
"Swiss Family Guy Robinson" transplants the action to a pirate-infested island. Baby Stewie, Brian the alcoholic dog and more than 20 other characters come to life through Froud's freakishly versatile voice and body gestures. "It's all about voices, silliness and mayhem," says Froud, 32, who lives in Hamilton, Ontario. "Onstage, there's just me and a chair ? which becomes a tree, a wheelchair and a piano bench, as needed. ... The Swiss Family Robinson plot is a nice, loose structure that I can work jokes into."
Froud got his start at the Second City Conservatory, a Toronto training program for aspiring improv artists. He then performed with the Second City National Touring Company, an incubator for Saturday Night Live comics. His new show, co-authored by Canadian comedy duo Daniel and Steven Shehori, won glowing reviews at last July's Toronto Fringe Festival.
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I bet this would be a good show - hopefully he'll be filmed for release...
