Two one-man comedy plays arrive simultaneously

Two one-man shows, both of which have enjoyed a good bit of longevity on the touring circuit, are coming this weekend. They’re both comedies, but other than the fact that they both have very long titles, the similarities end there.

 My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy is at Clearwater’s Capitol Theatre for two performances Saturday, while Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus LIVE! is onstage at the Jaeb Theatre for four shows over three days.

Psychologist John Gary’s Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus was an immediate bestseller (15 million copies to date) when it was published in 1992. The central thesis of the book is that men and women think, and act, fundamentally differently in reaction to circumstances and situations.

It was only logical that the book, as it entered American’s collective consciousness, would become fodder for a touring comedy stage show (despite the fact that Gray’s theories are not, in and of themselves, meant to be funny).

At the Jaeb Theatre (inside Tampa’s Straz Center) for four performances Friday through Sunday, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus LIVE! is, according to the tour’s website, a laugh riot. “This hysterical 90-minute show will have couples elbowing each other all evening as they see themselves on stage. Presented via different vignettes, topics will cover everything from dating to marriage to the bedroom!”

New York comedian Amadeo Fusca is the “Martian” who covers things from both sides of the bed. According to his website, he has performed Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus more than 400 times, in 65 cities.

“It’s a challenging show,” Fusca told an interviewer, “and that’s why I love doing it so much.” Since it launched in 2012, he said, “we continue to edit and freshen up the show, and update it. The references are updated so people can relate to what I’m saying. The world changes, and the show is changing with it.

“The thing that’s not changing: Men and women are still the same. We still butt heads, like in all relationships. And that’s where the hilarity ensues. Because it’s really a date night show. Any couple comes to this show, they’re going to be nudging each other throughout, and holding hands when they leave.”

Find showtimes and tickets here.

Steve Solomon, Variety once gushed, is “Alan King, Billy Crystal, a smidgen of Don Rickles and George Carlin all thrown in.” Heady praise for the one-time Brooklyn educator who turned memories of his multi-ethnic family, and his talent for mimicry and quirky dialects, into one of the most successful one-man shows in history, opening in 2021.

Solomon has performed My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy nearly 10,000 times.

“It’s the equivalent of going to dinner with your family and coming home with heartburn and a headache,” Solomon once explained. “And realizing why you left home in the first place.”

In other words, “one part lasagna, one part kreplach and two parts Prozac.”

He subsequently wrote and performed three more shows, with similarly long titles. The show Solomon brings to the Capitol Saturday is the original – the one that took him out of the classroom for good, and into the life’s perpetual school of hard knocks.

Find showtimes and tickets here.

Steve Solomon in “My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy.” Publicity photo.