A FRIDAY NIGHT WITH PUDDLES PITY PARTY
The silent sad clown with the beautiful baritone voice covered songs from Johnny Cash, David Bowie, and Black Sabbath in between stealing cell phones and giving out hugs at Peery’s Egyptian Theater in October.
REVIEW
Puddles Pity Party, presented by Onstage Ogden, at Peery’s Egyptian Theater on October 20. Photo by Austin Buckius
I've spent many a Friday night with clowns though none as pleasant as when Puddles Pity Party came to town on Friday, October 20. With comedy, wit, and heart, Puddles was able to show the absurd, the beautiful, and the melancholic through his performance and songs.
His voice, a lovely baritone can bring you to tears while beautiful well-timed and comedic visuals make you laugh. The videos, a performance in itself, complement and enhance the live performance adding drama and humor.
You may remember this silent sad clown from America’s Got Talent season twelve. Or perhaps you’ve seen him performing with Postmodern Jukebox. But before he hit the music scene he hailed from River City before moving to Atlanta. While you’ll never see him speak, his songs more than make up for it covering everything from Johnny Cash to David Bowie, to my personal favorite Black Sabbath.
The night of the show, Puddle’s was introduced by a local gentleman named J. Theodore Rosso originally from Michigan who played Jeff Rosso on the show Freaks and Geeks. After the comedic introduction Puddles came on stage.
But Puddles was not limited to the screen and stage. Before the show he interacted with the audience shaking my hand before jumping the seats to go say hi to others, taking selfies, hugging his fans and stealing people's cell phones to take a picture. But it wasn't just preshow hijinks with Puddles. He walked into the crowd during one song stealing cell phones and recording bits of his performance before handing it to another person to record him (don't worry he made sure everyone got their phone back). And if that wasn't off the rails enough for you, he brought an audience member on stage to play his cigar box guitar and perform Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy train—the mild annoyances of life played on the screen behind, getting to the point of destruction but cutting out before you got the catharsis of the plate smashing.
Puddles gives hugs during a performance at Peery’s Egyptian Theater in October. Photo by Austin Buckius
After the show he joined the audience to take selfies, wave at passersby, and in general just have a wonderful time with his fans.
As amazing as the performance was, the story of how he got here was just as fantastic. Puddles was brought to Ogden through Onstage Ogden with the help of Executive Director James Fredrick and Rosso. Talking to James about the process he said, “At any one time, we've got dozens of conversations going on with agents and artists. Sometimes those conversations lead to nothing. Sometimes it takes a couple years for a performance to actually happen. Puddles came together pretty quick—maybe nine months.”
It's fantastic that we have community groups like Onstage Ogden to bring performers like Puddles to our wonderful town, and to be able to do so in nine months is quite the feat.
Fredrick also went on to say, “One of the best things about the performance Friday for us was that so many in the audience were new to Onstage Ogden. As we work on reaching more people in the Ogden area, performances like Friday's are going to be a big ingredient.” Ogden is fortunate to have such a wonderful community organization bringing us these wonderful cultural events.
While Puddles may sing with a melancholic tone, he brought fun, humor and a good time to the Peery’s Egyptian Theater and I only cried a little at his rendition of Space Oddity. It was definitely a party and the only pity there was when he was done performing and it was time to go home.
See Onstage Ogden’s full 2023/2024 season lineup at onstageogden.org.
