Chuckling Beer
Degrees Plato Tap Room Bottle Shop & Kitchen
4251 MacArthur Boulevard at High Street
Oakland
Sept. 28, 2024
Vexillology: That’s the study of flags, in case you didn’t know. It’s an interest of mine, one I never imagined could be used as a comedic weapon — let alone against me.
But that’s how it went down at the Chuckling Beer stand-up comedy show at Degrees Plato Tap Room Bottle Shop & Kitchen in Oakland’s Laurel District.
I blame the beer for loosening my lips about my dorky leisure pursuit when comic Jackie Keliiaa took the stage asking if anyone had any nerdy hobbies. But hey, as the emcee Rafi D. Susman said at the beginning of the show, “Drink lots of beers and ciders. The more you drink the better the show’s gonna be. No empty glasses! You! Empty glass! Go get something! Also, no talking. You can talk during the other comics’ sets but not my set. For my set I want RAPT ATTENTION!”
We showed up at Degrees Plato on the first night it has really felt like autumn. Darkness had descended early, and the air was crisp, a tad chilly. We’d been to Degrees Plato once before, shortly after it opened a few years ago. The current menu wasn’t as varied as it had once been, but still offered good Mexican comfort food, pairing well with our chosen brews.
And it was difficult to choose! Countless craft beers, ciders, and wine, were on offer. The bartender let us sample a few beers including one called the Fung Shui, which was, uh, interesting tasting … Described as a beer that’s “farmhouse aged on candy cap mushrooms,” it definitely tasted shroomy, but the flavor was too weird for me. I settled on the tried-and-true deliciousness of Pliny the Elder, a perfectly balanced Double IPA. My dark-beer-loving partner got a Schwartzbier called Black Hoodie Lager. We also ordered the “Tres Taco” — a trio of carnitas, chicken tomatillo tinga, and roasted poblano pepper tacos— then headed to the outdoor lot where the show took place. When our food arrived, we dove in. The meat tacos’ crema was great, tying the flavors together, but my favorite was the roasted poblano taco. Sometimes the veggie option is the tastiest.
After Susman’s intro — “I identify as a North Korean woman!” — and his directive to drink lots of beers, he joked, “It’s getting dark earlier; who’s ready for some SEASONALLY AFFECTIVEDEEEPREEESSIOOON?! WOO!”
Susman entered into an edgy bit about skydiving in Lodi, California, to cure his own depression, then introduced the first of the seven other comedians: Nate Schwartz, Bryant Hicks, Wally Hipolito, Uriah Jaquez, Allison Fine, Rob Edwards, and Jackie Keliiaa.
Bryan Hicks performs at Degrees Plato.
Comic Bryant Hicks killed it when he asked how an audience member was doing.
“I’m well,” the attendee replied.
“Fuck yeah, you’re well!” Hicks responded. “Is that a soda you’re drinking? You’re adorable. Grown man just drinking a fuckin’ Mexican soda on a Saturday night — gettin’ lit!”
Hicks, who has opened for Dave Chappelle, said of the nippy weather, “You know it’s cold when white women are wearing beanies.” His comedic rhythm was superb.
Nate Schwartz also drew laughs with a bit about an organ transplant surgeon dropping a heart and then picking it back up using the Five Second Rule. And an impression of an illiterate woman in the 1500s getting a letter from her lover: “Oh shit, I can’t read!”
Rob Edwards joked about Trump’s ramblings on immigrants: “What did he say? Illegal immigrant transgender criminals are getting sex changes in prison or some shit? For the sake of argument let’s say that’s true. How many people could that possibly be? I just feel like that can’t be that many people. That’s like if you tried to make laws based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There’s not enough people who check those boxes.”
In the same vein, Uriah Jaquez, who produced the night’s show, said that he’s Latino and that he loves delicious cats and dogs. He also explained that his last name isn’t always easy for people to pronounce, recounting reserving a camping site at a national park where the ranger said, “Oh yeah, you’re campsite number twenty-nine, Uriah Hckuuuuuckkcc….”
As to my dweeby love of vexillology, which I was made to explain, Jackie , pictured at top, razzed: “That’s pretty nerdy.”
She said of her love life that nerds are “a moth to a flame with me. I was trying to figure it out and I think … it’s my boobs!”
Another joke, about birth order, also involved audience participation: “How many here are the eldest kids? You guys were the guinea pigs. Who are the babies? Your parents were so tired their parenting was like, ‘Just go outside and breathe.’”
The show had far too many good jokes and zingers to fully recount here. Eight comics with eight sets is a lot for an hour and a half, but it came together and drew a good crowd. We’re looking forward to another round of beer, tacos, and comedy in the future. In the meantime, whenever I’m engaging in my vexillological studies I’ll probably let out a chuckle, wondering what symbolism and design elements might best express nerdiness in the flag of Dorkistan …
