Varietopia is a variety show in the truest sense of the phrase, like a cross between American Bandstand and The Carol Burnett Show. It’s also comedian-improviser-actor-writer Paul F. Tompkins’ “favorite thing to do.” Zooming with Isthmus from Los Angeles, Tompkins — PFT to his fans — appears adorned in all green, from his sweatshirt to his baseball cap that says “Amadán,” the Gaelic word for fool.
Varietopia “is comedy, it’s music, it’s sketch and character, it’s other forms of entertainment,” says Tompkins. The main draw is Tompkins himself, and his April 25 show at the Barrymore is a rare appearance in the Midwest. But there’s more to the production than Tompkins. He hopes audiences “come for me, stay for everything else.”
Tompkins has four stand-up albums under his belt; he wrote for and acted in the legendary sketch comedy show Mr. Show, voiced Mr. Peanutbutter in the Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman and his list of characters — and podcasts, including Comedy Bang! Bang! — continues to grow every year, as does his fandom.
Varietopia includes a variety of musicians and special guests, which Tompkins likes to keep “a surprise as much as possible.”
“The idea is that the show is the star,” Tompkins says, “that it doesn’t matter who I have booked; I am guaranteeing you, you are going to have a good time.”
Tompkins took a break from stand-up after his 2015 special Crying and Driving, and jumping back in has been some work. “At first it was a muscle that I hadn’t used in a while,” he says. “Remembering how I write and perform stand-up has come back to me and has been really fun.”
When he started improv a decade ago without any formal training, he admits it was “scary.” But the point was to “learn a new discipline, not knowing what was going to happen.” His chance to learn came in the summer of 2014, when he was called into Ben Schwartz’s stage show Snowpants, which mixed seasoned improvisers with relative newcomers. Tompkins was a non-improv guest.
One of the other guests? Jane Fonda, famously not a comedic improviser.
As Tompkins tells it: “I was backstage, and Jane Fonda is there, and Ben asked before the show ‘Jane, how do you feel?’ And she said, ‘Oh, I’m terrified.’ And when we got out there, Matt Walsh grabs a chair and sits down. Jane Fonda was the first person off the wall to grab a chair and sit down across from him.”
Tompkins says that her gameness made an impact on him. “This is Jane Fonda, somebody who does not need to be doing this at all, and she threw herself into that. I thought, that’s the way you’re supposed to be as an artist: You are always supposed to be challenging yourself.”
He’s taken that to heart. Varietopia features plenty of singing, something Tompkins is not known for. In past shows, he’s covered “Skyfall” by Adele and “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo, among others. It took a while for Tompkins to reach the point where singing in a genuine, non-comedic way wasn’t uncomfortable. “I was scared of singing sincerely and doing my best at it,” says Tompkins. But when Varietopia started again after a break, Tompkins embraced the sincerity. “It’s not about being funny in this moment,” he says. “It’s about being fun.”
He hopes the finale, which features Tompkins singing his heart out, leaves an impression. “It’s like this is a part of me,” he says, and he wants people to leave saying, ‘Wow, that was a cool ending to that show.’” n
