Last Thursday night I saw my friend Amy Claire perform her hilarious one woman show, “An Classy Evening With Amy Claire: How I Got This Far” in Hollywood at the Pan Andreas Theater. The show (unfortunately, it ran only one night to a sold-out audience) was very much like Amy’s gut-busting stand-up comedy act, and mined much of the same “1/2 Southern Belle and half White Trash” material, but added blocking, lighting, a few props, and a slide show (the elephant baby was particularly effective) to the mix. Minimal, to be sure, but the direction (by Michael Cornacchia) kept things low-key and natural while keeping the biting spirit of Amy’s stand-up routine intact, much like we (the audience) were at a party where Amy started telling funny stories.

And the stories she told were indeed funny. Most of them let us in on the intimate details of her relationships (“I’m dating a doctor. So there’s a slight chance of me quitting my job and a strong possibility of “accidentally” getting pregnant.”), growing up in Louisiana (“Obviously I’ve never slept with my brother. We’ve only made-out. It’s not serious.”), drinking too much (“What’s that called when you make a wildly inappropriate decision just cuz everything else in your life sucks? Oh yeah. Drunk.”) and working as a secretary (“I just got caught stealing toilet paper at work.”) Funny, funny stuff which I can’t do justice here, but you get the point.

After the show, which was seriously the fastest 45 minutes I’ve experienced in a theater in the past 10 years, we all celebrated Amy’s birthday with the singing of “Happy Birthday” and the eating of cake. And the drinking of free alcohol, which seemed totally appropriate.

Even though her show’s now closed, you can still catch Amy’s stand-up around Hollywood every now and then. She’s performed at the The Improv, Comedy Store and The House of Blues, among others, so if you see her name on a marquee somewhere, be sure to check her out.

Oh yeah, I did the “trailer park” sign for her show and was honored to do it.