Rob Anderson's "Are You Afraid of the 90s?"
Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle
Royal Oak, Mich.
Oct. 5, 2025
A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon this charming guy on Instagram making fun of one of my favorite childhood TV shows, “7th Heaven.” With a warm smile, Rob Anderson lovingly poked fun at the '90s drama, a wholesome family show about a pastor, his wife and their seven kids overcoming, you know, typical obstacles in small-town California: drugs, alcohol, gangs, gun violence, etc. A view back – with Anderson’s help – reveals these plot lines as pretty ridiculous, along with those of most other '90s TV shows.
With 1.5 million Instagram followers, Anderson clearly hit a nerve with his fellow Millennials. Transferring his social media jokes to standup, his touring show “Are You Afraid of the '90s?” – a play on Nickelodeon’s popular '90s horror series “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” – had two sold-out shows Sunday at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle in Royal Oak.
The show was delightful, full of songs, themed outfits, video clips and photos that took the (presumably) Millennial-dominant audience back to our childhoods.
Wearing neon overalls, Anderson opened with an introductory song about the '90s, inviting everyone to take a trip back in time with him. Now donning a plaid jumpsuit, reminiscent of the dress of prim American Girl Doll Samantha, Anderson began a PowerPoint presentation outlining the major themes of the '90s, according to the storylines of popular TV shows and movies.
As he discussed themes of alcohol, drugs, homelessness, power dynamics, racism, sex trafficking, LGBTQ and books, we took a trip down memory lane revisiting “Family Matters,” “Boy Meets World,” “The Magic School Bus,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Captain Planet,” “Dawson’s Creek,” “Baywatch,” “Ally McBeal,” “Touched by an Angel,” “7th Heaven” (of course) and others, with a frequent through-line of “Walker Texas Ranger” and his ability to solve all the world’s problems though karate.
Anderson’s style of comedy is less about telling traditional jokes and more about drawing attention to or finding patterns in the hidden-in-plain-sight silliness of unrealistic or overly dramatic storylines in the 90s that would not fly today. Often a simple “Gurl…” with a side-eye got the point across.
Based on the gasped reactions of the audience, many bits of '90s pop culture were either glossed over or completely missed, like a Blackface episode of “Touched by an Angel” where Monica – the immortal Irish angel – is terrified to learn what it’s like to be Black in the United States, with a cameo by Rosa Parks herself. Or the ending of “Blank Check” when an adult woman flirts with and full-on kisses an 11-year-old boy on the mouth, inviting him to call her for a date when he’s older (and doing the math negotiations, they land on him being 17, still problematic). There’s also a wild episode of “Captain Planet” in which pushers in Washington D.C. create an army of drug zombies to storm the Capitol, in which Anderson quipped, “This was January 6th.”
When we finally got to “7th Heaven,” Anderson didn’t disappoint, noting a common theme of all the show’s troubled characters is that they’re poor, with an appropriately themed song called “Don’t Be Poor.” The song had hilarious references that would be apparent to any “7th Heaven” fan, like “Don’t hide your son if he’s got special needs. Don’t hide your fake bulimia behind the bathroom door. Your body’s perfect, baby, but maybe, just don’t be poor.”
One of the funniest – and arguably saddest – bits was all about Mama Bear from the Berenstain Bears, specifically a storyline in which Papa Bear shuts down her burgeoning quilt business. Referencing images and notes from the books, the frumpy, muumuu-wearing matriarch looks solidly middle-aged, along with Papa Bear. The book notes, however, reveal Mama Bear to be 27 and Papa Bear to be 39. More disturbing, is that Brother Bear is supposed to be between 10-11 years, old, meaning Mama Bear got pregnant as a minor by a male in his late 20s.
Donned in his own spotted blue muumuu and matching cap, Anderson sang a sad, heartfelt ballad “Bear Minimum.” With an accompanying animated video, the song presented an imagined childhood, with Mama Bear looking longingly at her shattered dreams and the life she could have lived: “If I knew then what I know now, would this be the life I was dreaming about? Healthy cubs in a warm treehouse, is there something missing now?... Is it OK to want a little more? Is this enough, or is it the bear minimum?”
With the detailed PowerPoint, creative themed costumes, original animation and songs – and even a Magic Eye stereogram on the back of the program! – Anderson’s show was thorough and thoughtful. It wasn’t laugh out loud funny, but there was a constant feeling of surprise and delight paired with nostalgia that kept a smile on your face the whole time.
I was surprised there were no references to “Full House” or even the show’s SNICK namesake, all rife with '90s roasting material. There is, however, consolation in knowing there’s plenty of content for future shows.
