MARK TWAIN NOW
“HUMOR IS MANKIND’S GREATEST BLESSING; AGAINST THE ASSULT OF LAUGHTER, NOTHING CAN STAND”
- MARK TWAIN
Samuel Langhorne Clemens burst onto the mainstream of American literature after his adoption of the pen name Mark Twain in 1863. For nearly fifty years he entertained America with his insight about the feelings of the common man.
Mark Twain the iconoclast, philosopher, satirist and humorist - an American original - remains beloved and respected the world over. As he toured the lecture circuit, he became known as “the funniest man on earth”.He filled lecture halls around the world, giving as many as thirty performances in as many days.Acclaimed by many years as the greatest American humorist of the late 1800s, Twain was renowned for his special view of life.
Samuel Clemens, the man known as Mark Twain, (whose pseudonym comes from the Mississippi river-boat call “Mark the Twain”, (meaning two fathoms of water for the Stern Paddlers to pass safely), invented the American voice and became one of its greatest celebrities.
His life mirrored America as he grew from a Mississippi River boyhood in the days of the frontier, to a Wild West journalist during the Gold Rush, to become the king of the eastern establishment and a recognized global celebrity, dining with Kings and Queens and
other world leaders, as America became an International power.It is a tribute to the foresight and skill of Mark Twain that his classics are still enjoyed by readers over 100 years after they were written. Words so prophetic they will continue to be enjoyed… and debated for centuries to come.
DESCRIPTION OF SHOW
“Mark Twain Now” is a one-man show written and performed by Tennessee Webb.The performance exhibits the tart satire, wry humor, and instinctive eye for the unusual that were Twain’s trademark.
I can speak more frankly from the grave than most historians would be able to do, for the reason that where as they would not be able to feel dead, howsoever hard they might try, I myself am able to do that. They would be making believe to be dead.With me, it is not make-believe.” The evening with the white-suited icon is thought provoking even as it elicits laughter.
The satirical tone of Twain’s tough-minded insight is balanced by his warm-hearted humor.When Mark Twain died in 1910, he left behind the largest cache of personal papers created by any nineteenth-century American author.In the last decade of his life, and humor, with iPad, iPhone and his ever present cigar in hand, “Twain” imparts his timeless observations on 21st century current affairs.
Mark Twain evolved the habit of writing what he wanted to write, no matter how incendiary, knowing all the while that he would not publish it, but simply put it into that “box of Posthumous Stuff” and let it be published after his death… and was it ever!
Returning to share his voice Tennessee brings an intimacy to the show by breaking the “fourth-wall” as Twain interacts with the audience.
This powerful depiction allows Twain’s voice to resonate in the 21st century; ever the humorist, ever the insightful satirist, ever the prophetic sage; it reveals, as the Icon himself once stated:
“I am not an American, I am the American.”
For more information and booking opportunities please contact:
Patrick J. Alach Esq.
with Longo & Alach LLP
(310) 272-7166
Patrick.alach@lallp.net