{"id":1417,"date":"2012-09-04T19:05:47","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T22:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=1417"},"modified":"2023-07-09T14:21:06","modified_gmt":"2023-07-09T17:21:06","slug":"mervn-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=1417","title":{"rendered":"Merv&#8217;n Out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/merv.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1419\" title=\"merv\" src=\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/merv.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"276\" height=\"183\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">merv hartlen<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last night was the first time that I had seen the act of Halifax-based comedian Merv Hartlen, who performs his one man show <em>Merv\u2019n Out<\/em> as part of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.atlanticfringe.ca\">Atlantic Fringe Festival.<\/a> I then got the opportunity to watch him do a slightly different set as part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/archives\/1408\">Bill Wood\u2019s Big Fringe Comedy Night<\/a>. He has a solid set, a nice mixture of boyish charm, awkwardness and an immediate self deprecating easygoingness that endears him immediately to the audience and allies them immediately on his side.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Merv\u2019n\u2019 Out<\/em> is mostly a stand up set, but there is also a parody of a stand up set, effectively presented by Merv\u2019s alter ego Stan Ferguson and a trip through Disney World circa 1981. A lot that is offered up by Merv here is very funny and original. The challenging aspect of the show is in the middle when Merv reads a long story centering on his older brother, Justin, and explores the question of which ultimately wealds the most power: money or books? I think if Merv had told us the story, and perhaps if it had been a little more compact and punchier, rather than read it, it would have been a much stronger component in the show. Conversely, if he had taken the reading and the long winding story components even farther he could have effectively set up another parody character like Stan Ferguson.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Likely the highlight of our experience <em>Merv\u2019n\u2019 Out<\/em> is the rousing chorus at the end of the evening of his hit and classic tune \u201cDon\u2019t Call Me Merv,\u201d which is sure to get stuck in your head and remain there well into the night.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>TWISI RATING:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/3-of-5-stars1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1418\" title=\"3 of 5 stars\" src=\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/3-of-5-stars1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"235\" height=\"54\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><em>Merv&#8217;n Out<\/em> plays at the Living Room (2353 Agricola Street) at the following times:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Thursday September 6th at 8:40pm<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Friday September 7th at 7:00pm<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Saturday September 8th at 7:40pm<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sunday September 9th at 8:40pm<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>It is $7.00 to book tickets\u00a0please\u00a0visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.atlanticfringe.ca\/\">this website<\/a>\u00a0or call\u00a0(902) 999-7469 or visit the Box Office at the Seaport Farmers\u2019 Market at\u00a0Pavilion\u00a020 on Marginal Road. Tickets are also available at the venue ONE hour before the show. Happy Fringe!<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Incoming search terms:<\/h4><ul><li>merv hartlen<\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>merv hartlen Last night was the first time that I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4671],"tags":[4038,3320,3212,5524,4698],"class_list":["post-1417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-bill-wood","tag-comedy","tag-halifax-fringe","tag-merv-hartlen","tag-the-living-room"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Merv&#039;n Out - The Way I See It Theatre &amp; Music Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=1417\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merv&#039;n Out - The Way I See It Theatre &amp; 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