Mystery Vortex at Fallout Theater

Mycal Dédé​’s Mys­tery Vor­tex is a wild vari­ety show com­bin­ing standup, com­pe­ti­tion, a pan­el of judges, audi­ence par­tic­i­pa­tion, and one very large check. Held on First Sat­ur­days of every month at Fall­out The­ater, the lim­it­ed run show will hope­ful­ly get an exten­sion past its next show, Octo­ber 5.

The Sep­tem­ber show fea­tured Dédé as emcee and kicked off with a standup set by Justin Hicks to warm up the crowd before pan­elists Rachel Wolf­son and Carl­ton Wilcox­son joined Dédé on stage. The com­pe­ti­tion ele­ment comes in two rounds — 5 comics per­form a typ­i­cal set in the first round then come back to per­form a brand new set of mate­r­i­al based on top­ics hand-select­ed by Dédé. The comics have a month to write the new mate­r­i­al, Sep­tem­ber’s com­peti­tors includ­ed Lisa Smith, Antho­ny Pap­pal­ly, Con­rad Fagan, Jes­si Sal­daña, and Quinn Collins.

Between each per­former’s set, the pan­elists ask ques­tions or riff with the comics. Or, in the case of Sep­tem­ber’s show, the comics taunt the judges with var­i­ous props found in the Fall­out The­ater’s green room (see image). The fast-paced, high ener­gy event con­cludes with an audi­ence vote to see who would get a $100 prize (with Dédé fund­ing the mon­ey, spon­sors are wel­come to pitch in). Sep­tem­ber’s win­ner was Hous­ton com­ic Sal­daña. We hope the large check he got (think Pub­lish­er’s Clear­ing House sized) fit in his suit­case for the trip back to Houston.

Make plans for next mon­th’s show — it’s ear­ly enough on the line­up that you can head to oth­er shows down­town once the win­ner is announced. Kudos to Dédé for cre­at­ing a wild ride (oh, a vor­tex, per­haps?) where the only mys­tery is why you’re not there.