MR. FOX
MR. FOX
By Gregg Landucci and T.J. Dawe
Chipped Paint Productions
Yellow Venue
Orlando International Theater Fringe Festival, Orlando, FL</strong>
Broadcasting is cool. Even today in the scene dominated by Clear Channel and endless mind-numbing shock jocks, sending you voice over a microphone to millions has an appeal that makes the long hours and low pay worth it. Mr. Landucci was up for the job, he even went to the local tech school for a two year degree in the topic. Too bad that degree only qualified him for an unpaid internship. But Landucci got one at classic rock CFOX in Vancouver, and wound up as the mascot, MR.FOX. Yes, it’s all caps. You need to stand out, and being loud helps.
Working in a costume is about as bad is it sounds. It’s hot, you’re dealing with other people’s sweat, the pay is low, and you’re subject to endless abuse by your fans. After a while the free concert tickets and gorgeous babes you can’t actually talk to wears thin.
The essence of mascoting and the unspoken theme underlying Mr Fox is as a mascot, no one remembers there’s a person in there, and that person forgets that he’s mortal. Mr. Fox permitted Mr. Landucci to do things he never would have in life, and in the costume, no matter how nasty it became, was his semi-invincible shield.
Landucci’s retelling of the experience follows the classics T.J. Dawe formula: Little bits of reality and absurdity are carefully stacked atop one another until there’s no exit. Landucci’s constant comparison to the San Diego Chicken and the realization that a job prohibiting speech didn’t count as broadcasting were bad enough, but an eventual near death experience drove home the point: Fame doesn’t come quickly on the air, and neither does a rent check. But it can give you a GREAT fringe show.
This show is presented as part of the 17th Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival. Information on times, tickets, and venue location my be found at http://orlandofringe.org/
