Like Will Ferrell

“Last week I had the chance to see week three’s headlining performance, which is brilliantly delivered by Wisconsin-native Bob Karper. A little like Will Ferrell only sharper, Karper stars in this dramatic solo retelling of two true stories…

It was perhaps his puppetry that was most memorable, featuring ‘Muslim Barbie’, a big red moose as an Imam, a child’s toy speedboat for a father figure and a coffee pot that talks through a screeching flapping lid, most often used to depict Karper’s naively sweet mother, saying things like, ‘What’s the difference between a Muslim and an Islam?’ ...Like those earlier cartoon figures that routinely broke out into song and dance, or appeared as guest anchors in their own cartoon’s The Evening News, Karper’s work features an unconventional approach to narrative and performance, which means he does everything from documentary film to working within a wide range of obscure musical forms and performance arts.

However much Karper skewers small-town America, he does so with considerable more generosity than most people working in the field… I found myself wholly engrossed in the immediate storyline and eager to find out what happens next. The fact that I was not sure to what degree the events enacted were true or not only made the sense of delusion and extravagance that the characters all display that much more powerful and human.”

— One Stop Arts