I Was a Fat Kid . . . I Was a Really Fat Kid

Watching Nathaniel Boggess’ one-man show is like catching up with your old, self-deprecating, endearingly awkward friend at the grocery store, 10 years after high school. He’s the boyishly cute guy buying the cans of carrots and green peppers, while you pretend you aren’t packing your basket full of potato chips and pork rinds. In this hilarious but melancholy one-act monologue, Boggess discusses his struggles with weight, family, and self-acceptance. But it’s more than a collection of easy fat jokes. Growing up in Huntington, West Virginia (remember Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on ABC last year?), Boggess weighed 150 pounds by age 10. Later, he worked at Taco Bell and McDonalds, with nearly unlimited access to junk food. Hearing his accounts of dead-end kitchen slavery and plunging self-esteem, we in the audience expect—hope for?—the comic release that never comes. Yet his hour-long show isn’t entirely depressing. Boggess balances the painful with plain, ironic humor, and even sometimes addresses the audience directly—like a good friend reassuring others he’s actually okay. “It’s alright,” he says, “It’s funny.” KAT CHOW

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Tuesdays, Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Starts: Feb. 1. Continues through Feb. 16, 2011