All Out Comedy About Ambition Broadway Review – New York Theater

“All Out,” much like last year’s “All In,” has generated accusations of a “cynical cash grab,” in the words of a poster in a theater chatroom outraged by ticket prices as high as $320 for a “lazy” 80-minute show, during which four celebrities read some dozen short stories by Simon Rich, interspersed with songs by the band Lawrence.

I too recoil at the misleading way the show is being marketed. Some young theatergoers I met at the Nederlander who had gotten their tickets after seeing promos for “All Out” on Instagram, expressed surprise that it was in effect a staged reading. Over the next twelve weeks, a rotating cast of four celebrities will read aloud Rich’s published stories from hand-held binders.  But I also wondered whether the outrage is mostly about the ticket prices: Would theatergoers find “All Out: Comedy about Ambition” enjoyable if the tickets were more affordable.

To test this hypothesis, I entered the lottery, won, and saw the show for $45. For me, the answer is largely yes: If you know what to expect, the show is sufficiently entertaining to feel worth the (80 minute) time and ($45) expense, not least because it is almost as much a concert of original songs by Lawrence, a lively eight-member band led by the siblings Clyde Lawrence and Gracie Lawrence, who is a standout here as she was in the Broadway musical “Just in Time,” where she portrayed Connie Francis.  

“All Out: Comedy About Ambition” is not ambitious theater, nor is it even really about ambition. Although some of Simon Rich’s individual stories are inherently theatrical, the selection overall feels random. Whether or not the show is a cash grab, it’s certainly a grab-bag. This is reportedly different from last year’s more focused “All In: Comedy About Love.”  But there are also some changes for the better in the sequel.  Although top ticket prices are still steep, prices as a whole are lower than last year. (Could word of mouth have done the trick?) And although the current quartet of comedians do still read aloud from hand-held binders, they don’t just sit in chairs; they sit on a couch this time (plus a couple of armchairs), and they do occasionally stand up.

That couch is part of David Korins’ surprisingly elaborate set, meant to evoke a wood-paneled office in midtown Manhattan. (We know it’s midtown because the Chrysler building is visible out the large picture window stage right, and the Empire State Building out the stage left window.) The wall behind the couch is carved with a large sign that says “All Out. Rich Enterprises,” which is in-between two elegant bookcases filled with leather-bound books and a shelf full of liquor bottles, each beneath landscape oil paintings. There are work stations at either end of the stage, complete with a water cooler, a computer, a wall calendar with crossed-out dates, staff mailboxes, the works. What’s odd about all this — and, I think, telling – is that none of it is ever incorporated into the show; it’s the set for a production that doesn’t happen.

Instead, that set is covered up by the swirling psychedelic-style projections of a 60’s rock concert during the performances by Lawrence, and ignored during the reading of the stories, which are accompanied by projections of simple illustrations by Emily Flake, a frequent cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine – the magazine that first published many of the stories in the show.

Rich’s humorous stories, which are clever even when they are not laugh-out-loud funny, have been published in seven collections over the past 18 years, several of which are in audiobook editions; he also has an extensive presence on YouTube. Which means you can read and listen to his stories to determine whether you share his absurdist sense of humor before heading to the Nederlander (and also savor the experience afterward by revisiting the stories)

Here is an old video of “Math Problems,” which was published in his first collection, Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations. It’s one of the shorter humor pieces during the first half of “All Out,” this one read to good effect by Jon Stewart.

Three of the stories read on stage are from Rich’s latest collection, Glory Days. Of these, “Kerosene” most resembles a scene, since it consists largely of a dialogue between two characters (read at the performance I attended by Eric Andre and Ike Barinholtz) — Rufus, who has gotten rich making kerosene, and the ancient captain of an old whaler who has been lost at sea for a decade.
“How did you survive?”
“Just straight up cannibalism. Eating me beloved brothers one by one.”
“You poor soul. It sounds like you’ve been through hell.”
“Aye..but at least all me suffering will be worth it” – because his hull is full of whale oil, which he thinks will make him rich.
Rufus initially doesn’t have the heart to tell him that his whale oil is now completely worthless, replaced by kerosene – cleaner, cheaper, less smelly. But when he does, there is an unexpected twist.

Twists are a Rich specialty, especially to familiar tales. Not all of these completely work. In “The Emperor Has No Clothes,” the emperor is at first humiliated when he realizes he’s naked, but then gets off on the kinkiness of it. The saving grace on stage was Jon Stewart’s expressions as the emperor while reading the story. 

On the other hand, “Oatsy,” which Eric Andre read (standing up the whole time!) was one of the two funniest stories of the night.  (It’s published in Hits and Misses, Rich’s 2018 collection, which won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.) The story is a first-person monologue by Paul Revere’s horse, who resents that Revere gets all the credit, when it was the horse’s idea. “Person from newspaper jumps out and he is like: Paul, Paul, how did you ride so long through night. And I snort, because of course Paul did not ride. I rode. He just clung to my back with eyes closed….”

The only funnier story was the one at the very end, “The City” (published in Glory Days), which Abbi Jacobson read (again, standing up; is there a correlation here, between standing up and standing out?) It’s another monologue, this time by the City of New York, who finds all the young people who move here objectionable, for many reasons, but above all, because “they piss on me. Not once in a  while. Every. Single. Night.” This is why, “from the moment the young people arrive, I do everything I can to make them leave” — roaches and rats and loud radiators, shitting pigeons, raised rents. “…if they somehow make it to a Broadway stage, I summon a plague and shut myself down just to spite them.” But the city gets a kind of comeuppance by those young people “built a little different” who, despite it all,  stay, becoming old New Yorkers, and encouraging new young people who arrive. Another Rich specialty – the wry, heartwarming ending.

 “All Out: Comedy About Ambition” exists because “All In: Comedy About Love” wound up being one of the rare shows on Broadway to recoup its investment, despite the voluble complaints by theatergoers who see so much about these shows – the celebrity stunt-casting, the misleading marketing, a reading presented as a production, the price gouging — as signs of the degradation of Broadway theater. Will those New York theatergoers who are “built a little different” beat these trends back on behalf of theatergoers yet to arrive? Or will there be a show next year entitled “All Over: Comedy about Death?”

All Out: Comedy About Ambition
Nederlander Theater through March 8, 2026
Running time: Eighty minutes, no intermission.
Tickets: $60 – $320 (range of prices varies depending on date of performance). Lottery and rush: $45
Broadway Rush and Lottery Policies
Written by Simon Rich
Directed by Alex Timbers
Scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Jennifer Moeller, lighting design by Jason DeGroot, sound design by Peter Hylenski, video design by Lucy Mackinnon, illustrator Emily Flake,  hair and makeup consultants Robert Pickens & Katie Gell, music supervisor Kris Kukul
Band: Gracie Lawrence (vocals/percussion),Clyde Lawrence (conductor/vocals/keyboard/uitar/accordion/bass ukelele), Jonny Koh, Michael Karsh, Sam Askin, Jordan Cohen, Sumner Becker, Marc Langer
First cast (which I saw): Eric Andre, Ike Barinholtz, Abbi Jacobson, Jon Stewart

Complete company:

Eric Andre (December 12 – December 28)
Ike Barinholtz (December 12 – December 20)
Abbi Jacobson (December 12 – December 28)
Jon Stewart (December 12 – December 20)
Jim Gaffigan (December 22 – January 11)
Ben Schwartz (December 22 – January 4)
Wayne Brady (December 29 – January 18) 
Cecily Strong (December 29 – January 18)
Beck Bennett (January 6 – January 18)
Mike Birbiglia (January 13 – January 18)
Heidi Gardner (January 20 – February 15)
Jason Mantzoukas (January 20 – February 15)
Craig Robinson (January 20 – February 15)
Sarah Silverman (January 20 – February 15)
Nicholas Braun (February 17 – March 8)
Ashley Park (February 17 – March 8)
Ray Romano (February 17 – March 8)
Jenny Slate (February 17 – March 8)

Photographs by Matthew Murphy