‘The Wonder Bread Years’ brings a dose of nostalgia for baby boomers
For more than 25 years, comedian Pat Hazell — one of the original writers for the long-running sitcom “Seinfeld” — has gracefully walked the line between stand-up and theater with his one-man …
For more than 25 years, comedian Pat Hazell — one of the original writers for the long-running sitcom “Seinfeld” — has gracefully walked the line between stand-up and theater with his one-man show “The Wonder Bread Years,” coming to the Wharton Center for the first time May 14.
“I’m excited about it,” said Hazell, 64, of Austin, Texas. “Wharton’s a reputable place. People are welcome to come out and get their laugh on with us.”
The show, Hazell’s tribute to Americana, has been called a “comic bullseye” for baby boomers.
“I don’t want to humble brag, but I’ve always prided myself on making it broadcast television friendly. It’s not a kids’ show, but it’s appropriate for all ages. The older crowd, they’re not used to the aggression you see in comedy clubs,” he said. “It’s presented as theater, but it moves at the pace of stand-up comedy. It’s a little bit of a shapeshifter: People don’t know what they’re coming to, then they start getting involved, and the next thing you know, they’re really getting into the show. For me, that’s the excitement; it means something a little different when you do crowd interaction.”
For Hazell, performing this show only “gets sweeter.”
“It’s a coming-of-age idea,” he said. “The show I’m coming to do is about bringing people together. It doesn’t matter if you’re 65 or 25; there’s a common denominator where you can look back and go, ‘Yeah, I did that.’
“The humor is quilted together with a lot of humanity and heart,” he continued. “We’re in a day and age now where we have to see each other as human beings and not as people with different opinions on different sides of the coin.”
When he first started the show, Hazell discovered that people were going on eBay to buy back their childhoods, purchasing old toys such as Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots and the like.
“There’s something about this idea of hanging on to your past that has value, so I began to do a little bit of a thesis on our sense of wonder — where we lost it and how we get it back,” he said. “Part of it is holding on to things from your youth. Anyone who collects something is really looking for some comfort in their life that they remember, a specific thing they cling to.”
There’s an opening film featuring vintage commercials, including the famous Life cereal commercial with Little Mikey, a picky young boy portrayed by John Gilchrist who’s seen silently shoveling cereal in his mouth — much to the surprise of his two older brothers, who exclaim, “He likes it!” The popular commercial debuted in 1972 and remained in regular rotation for more than 12 years.
According to Hazell, that gets plenty of cheers.
“I go through my parents’ old slideshow carousels and show audiences what family road trips used to be like pre-internet,” he said. “There’s something very charming about when you had to use your imagination to fill in blanks of your day as opposed to a video game avatar. That’s the sweet spot for the baby boomer. There’s something about the advancement of play that people want to hang on to. We need stories as much as we need shelter, food and water to survive in this life.”
For Hazell, the most rewarding part of the show is it reminds people that they’re more alike than they are different.
“We’re looking for ways to find the differences in each of us as a way to push people away,” he said. “When you create a sense of community and get that shared whatever it is — laughter, tears — people have a greater sense of understanding for each other. That may sound lofty, but it’s so much better than just being a comedy. That’s the chef’s kiss of compliments, when somebody’s life is impacted by a night out.”
May and early June theater productions:
“Bad Books”
Through May 31
2 p.m. Thursday, Saturday-Sunday
7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Williamston Theatre
122 S. Putnam St., Williamston
“The Shark Is Broken”
May 7-10 and 14-17
7 p.m. Thursday
8 p.m. Friday-Saturday
2 p.m. Sunday
Riverwalk Theatre
228 Museum Drive, Lansing
“Eureka Day”
May 8-10 and 14-17
7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday
3 p.m. Sunday; May 16
Stage One at Sycamore Creek Eastwood
2200 Lake Lansing Road, Lansing
“The Meta Plays”
7 p.m. Friday, May 8-Saturday, May 9
LCC Black Box Theatre
411 N. Grand Ave., Lansing
“The Wonder Bread Years”
7:30 p.m. May 14
Wharton Center Pasant Theatre
750 E. Shaw Lane, East Lansing
“Hamlet”
7 p.m. May 15
3 p.m. May 16
Hannah Community Center
819 Abbot Road, East Lansing
Dark Nights in Billtown staged reading: “Dog Mom”
7:30 p.m. May 18
Williamston Theatre
122 S. Putnam St., Williamston
“Defiance”
May 29-31 and June 5-7
7 p.m. Friday-Saturday
3 p.m. Sunday
Stage One at Sycamore Creek Eastwood
2200 Lake Lansing Road, Lansing
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