Daddy’s Little Girl

In new solo show, longtime UCB performer Doug Moe finds the comedy in raising his daughter

By Alex Odood / Jester correspondent

Doug Moe has been performing improv and sketch comedy in New York since 1998. He studied improvisation with Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Besser and Armando Diaz among others. His improv team Mother had an unprecedented seven-year run at the UCB Theatre. His past shows include the sketch show, “Get Evolved” and his solo show “Dr. Doug Changes Your Mind.” He has appeared on TV in such shows as 30 Rock, Rescue Me and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. His sketches have been heard on Fair Game with Faith Salie on NPR and seen online.

In “Bad Dad,” seen at UCB last month, Moe explores life with his five-year-old daughter Phoebe using still photos and video segments. He dives headlong into his fears that a bad decision or poor advice now may lead her to years of criminal activities and drug abuse later on. Moe views this important personal relationship through a comedic lens, yielding a refreshing take. A running theme of the show is questioning the contemporary trend of over-managed parenting methods, comparing these to how his generation’s childhoods unfolded, with a bit of  spirited ridicule.

In a new and novel twist on one-person performances, Moe gracefully pulls off conversations between himself and other characters using prerecorded video played back on a screen. A misguided music teacher who scolds him for lacking enough supportive energy in music class reminds me of the lady from the movie “Donnie Darko” who “questions our commitment to Sparkle Motion.”

One of the show’s most inspired moments is when Moe (wearing a dress and blond wig) performs as Phoebe one early morning before school. Her reaction to Dad’s orders to stop playing tea party and get ready for school reveals that young children are both brilliant and fiendishly clever. Phoebe outlines her newly hatched plot to the assembled members of her morning tea party (Winnie The Pooh & company) in full Shakespearean verse with all the required inflections. It's only when talking to “dad” that she babbles in nonsensical run-on sentences in the hopes of confusing him enough to let her play a little bit longer. It was an inspired sketch which absolutely captured the audience’s attention and produced howls of laughter.

One spot that fell a little short was the fantasy train sequence. What begins as a fatherly rant against the overt sexuality of the Disney Princess characters quickly reveals itself to be based on a casual lusting after those same characters. “Even fathers are still men who have needs and desires,” he tells us. This idea is manifests as he reappears as a pimped out version of himself riding the F train. While riding the “Fantasy” train, Doug flirts with the pretty girl sitting across from him and begins a striptease that perhaps goes a bit too far. The show could have done without this piece that tended to clash with the overall tone and subject matter.

As time passes, perhaps Moe will expand his palette of family stories in this show and continue delighting audiences with adorable photos of his daughter and his complete and utter awkwardness in raising her. He’s definitely tapped a strong comedy vein here.

“Doug Moe Is A Bad Dad” returns to the UCB Theatre Wednesday, September 7.