Follow that up with Part 2 of the same video. Ok, now watch every Talking Classics video this guy has made. Now you are prepared for the madness of Keith Apicary.
As I said in my earlier post, therer were a crapload of attendees at PAX East this year. I was able to meet a lot of people, including some I consider idols. In fact I believe the first words out of my mouth as I met Jeremy Parish were, "You're my hero." Met with a quizzical stare, I just went with it and he was really nice to me despite my nerdy outburst. Being an event with a lot of press, most of the guests I got to meet were writers and people I admire in the realm of "game journalism," but I happened to run into someone I consider a recent influence on my comedic sensibilities.
Nathan Barnatt's Keith Apicary character is a whirlwind of solid improv skills, geek culture references and some of the bravest (an possibly stupidest) physical comedy I've ever seen someone do. In a time where the physical comedian is rare (and who could blame them) Barnatt manages to evoke the timing and disregard for his own health we haven't seen since Jim Carrey at the top of his game. I can't help but be reminded of Dick Van Dyke's best moments as Keith Apicary topples down an entire staircase, rolls over a shopping cart, or drops off his own freakin' house onto a bounce castle.
While walking with Sean and Ser of Press Pause Radio we happened to bump into Nathan in the Keith persona just outside PAX's arcade room, his natural habitat. I know how commited Barnatt is to his characters, so I spoke to him as anyone would when talking to Keith. After a few minutes I think he realized that I actually know what I'm talking about when I compared his comedic style to the original UCB, before the TV show when they would perform in places like peoples' living rooms and on top of parking garages, and he completely dropped the character talking to me as one comedian to another. This was the highlight of PAX East for me... until his panel the next day. I hate lines. Lines suck. Fuck lines. There were panels I was dying to go to, but would miss just because there was a line. I was in front of the Wyvern theater an hour and a half before Keith's panel. This is how I went from being third in line to last and wouldn't trade it for the whole con.
You watched the video. If Barnatt is one thing, it's fearless. He's been kicked out of every con he's attended and is proud of it. At the panel Keith debuted his new music video about the Virtual Boy which consists of a three-minute montage of Keith wandering around LA blinded by the Virtual Boy and destroying everything in sight. He knocks over mannequins, shatters a shelf full of glassware, and flips over into the backseat of someone's convertible while crossing the street. His panel was on Sunday, so Nathan kept the mayhem to a minimum to keep himself from being kicked out before the thing could start, but he made up for it big time. The line got surprisingly long for such a niche panel. I'm sure many of you reading this have never heard of him even though you should and the rest of you though, "Oh that's the Neo Geo guy!"
Keith expresses his love for the Neo Geo MVS in music video form
Once a good amount of people had shown up (about 60 people including me), Keith arrived decked out in two Power Gloves, a Tron-ish suit made by the woman who forged the costumes for Daft Punk, and the Virtual Boy strapped to his head. After a minute or so of rabble rousing Keith asked who wanted to crash the G4 panel, which was about to start in the main hall. Of course we all jumped at the chance to take part in his patented anarchy and followed him like his personal army chanting things like "16-BIT OR NOTHING!" "RAMBO!" and the time and place of Keith's panel. Apicary lead us through the halls, into the classic console room where he stood on a table thrusting and shouting, and finally into the huge main hall which was packed with people. The panel had yet to start so Keith had the entire stage to himself as he ran on shouting and was quickly ushered off. I have no idea how an internet celebrity and a small army were allowed into the room, but it was damn fun.
We finally returned to the line and everyone had settled down when I noticed no less than three security guards outside the theater and Robert Khoo himself. I really expected the panel to be canceled, but they ushered us in. How was Keith going to top that? As we sat down Robert was already on stage at the table, obviously some shit was about to go down. Keith came out to great fanfare and pointed out that Robert Khoo was not a planned part of the panel. Khoo then repremanded Keith for his actions calling him "bad" and explaining that the panel before his was a documentarian premiering his new film about recovering from brain surgery. Apparently our chanting was a bit distracting. Barnatt was obviously sorry and Robert assured him he'd be welcome back next year. After the way this panel went, I'm not sure if that's still true.
We were assured by Keith that this was no ordinary panel. It was a "Keith ApiPARTY!" Throughout the panel Keith was constantly interrupted by one surly Enforcer whom has since been dubbed the "Kilt Enforcer." Figures the dude wearing a kilt is a tool. Apparently this guy was trouble during the entire show bothering fans from doing nothing wrong in particular. This was a bit understandable, as just having Keith in the room is a liability, but this guy was over the top. Keith wasn't allowed to stand on the chairs, fall off anything, and an audience participant was chewed out for calling the enforcer a "mopey faced rent-a-cop." This really didn't stop Apicary from doing anything, even shoving some of his acts in the dude's face. After being strictly told not to do a backflip, Keith did one with perfect grace and the audience proceeded to lose their shit.
During a question and answer session Keith was given a poster featuring the two stars of the G4 program X-Play, Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb, and shoved it down the back of his pants. He debuted a new video and the scripts for two new films that will star himself based on the Halo and Mario franchises. The panel was amazing fun and everything I could have hoped for from Mr. Apicary, until the fat (did I mention he was fat?) Enforcer had the whole thing shut down. The toolbox actually called security and had three guards come to the panel. Keith disregarded anyone with authority and sometimes tried to include them in the antics. During a trivia contest for DVD giveaways he tossed one to the kilt clad Enforcer telling him, "Educate yourself!" This DVD somehow found its way into my friend Cer's hands. Guess the Enforcer was not impressed by the panel. The lead security guard -I guess he was the leader because he had the shortest crewcut- leaned toward Keith and informed him that there was a missing child at the show and this was tying up security. Barnatt immediately backed down and calmed the audience.
After the panel I overheard a conversation between two of the guards. To them the panel was, "Just some guy falling down and no big deal." They were all fine with what was happening and seemed pretty pissed off at the guard. No idea what happened to the kid, I'm sure he's fine.
The panel ended early and now a hundred people will think that guy is a douche forever. There was supposed to be a signing at the end of the Apiparty which had to be moved so the Enforcers could seat the next panel. Once again Keith roused his army and lead us into a clearing down the hall where everyone could crowd around him like a friggin' rockstar. I already got my DVD signed the day before, so I didn't try to wade through the group of rabid fans to ask him if he remembered me or whatever fans say in less than 30 seconds. The panel was certainly an experience and I'll be talking about it for every PAX to come. None of them will be able to compete.
If you like Keith Apicary be sure to check out Nathan Barnatt's other characters like Trale Lewous and Ray Amsley.
Four bright buttons and two joysticks
No comments:
Post a Comment