BWW Reviews: THE BEST OF CRAIGSLIST LIVE! Proves People Post the Weirdest Ads Online

By: Jun. 15, 2014
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THE BEST OF CRAIGSLIST started in 2012 as a comedic web series on Funny or Die starring John Pick. It has gotten over 250,000 hits and was nominated for Best Webseries by the LA Weekly. The show has been performed at South Coast Repertory, Joe's Pub, and MiMoDa Studio in Los Angeles.

In early 2013, after taking the video characters live for a couple of solo performances (South Coast Repertory, PowerViolence), John Pick designed a rotating ensemble-based performance using real Craigslist posts as source material. The Fringe show also includes country-influenced musical selections by Levi Petree and Radio Publica which had the audience tapping along and dancing their way out the door at the end of the show.

Any of us who have placed Craigslist ads to try and sell something, trade something, find a roommate, or follow up on a chance meeting will surely laugh their way through the one hour performance. The cast includes creator John Pick, Ian Forester, Dana DeLorenzo, Emilia Hermann, Johnny Dinan, Michael Dunn and Rachel Rosenstein who each take on several writers of the often ridiculous ads. And did you know people post 20 billion ads worldwide on Craigslist each day and the site makes $81 million in revenue each year? And because ads are unlimited in the amount of words that can be posted, John Pick has plenty of source ads for his show.

Rather than post spoilers about each of the comical ads included in the show, here are the titles: Piano Tuner, Elliptical Machine, Please Hear My Prayer, Cars, Free Crappy Violin Case, You May Have Been My True Love Prince, Free Parachute, Grooming Circle (could any woman really be this crazy?), Get Well Balloon, 5.0 Mustang for TRADE for Cannibis, Neurosurgeon for Hire (the only serious ad in the show), To the Woman I Accidently Punched, Girl Who Saw Me Fall Down My Stairwell Naked, Roommates, Emails From an Asshole, Free Cello, Large Boat for Sale, and Hippie Palace. Each of the scenes includes a photo from the ad shown on a large screen.

So let you imagination run wild on what could be posted in those ads and what types of people will read them to you during the show - then order your tickets and be prepared to laugh!

Upcoming performances at the Hudson Backstage Theater, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038 on Sunday, June 15 at 8:00 PM, Saturday, June 21 at 5:30 PM, Sunday, June 22 at 3:00 PM, Saturday, June 28 at 3:00 PM, and Saturday, June 28 at 9:45 PM. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased in advance at http://hff14.org/1703

Learn More at www.thebestofcraigslistlive.com and watch performance videos at www.thebestofcraigslistlive.com/videos


Laugh your way through outrageous depictions of real Craigslist ads



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