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Photo credit Casey Rearick
An Aweful Lot of Vaudeville
Clichéd sentimentality, kamikaze alcoholism and old-wheeze jokes, these two knock-out songs you wish you didn't love, tell jokes you wish you couldn't laugh at, and even worse magic. A modern twist on comedy duos throughout history, they've shoved vaudeville kicking and screaming into the 21st century! Pinch and Squeal have opened for Piff the Magic Dragon, Puddles Pity Party, burlesque legends and Transylvanian saxons. Prepare yourself for guaranteed laughter, something in french, and quite possibly a banana puppet.
Cleveland Magazine "Best of Cleveland 2013"
Vaudeville Duo
He plays the accordion, she a banjolele — yep, a cross between ukulele and banjo. His handlebar moustache evokes the 1890s, while her frilly, busty outfit recalls the 1930s glory days of burlesque. His influences include Rodney Dangerfield; she's got a sort of Liza Minnelli thing going on. Pinch and Squeal — the husband-and-wife duo of Jason and Danielle Tilk — revive vaudeville, the variety shows that dominated American stages a century ago. "We pride ourselves on singing songs you wish you didn't know and jokes you wish you didn't laugh at, and doing really bad magic," says Pinch. That includes "Brand New Key," Melanie's early-'70s novelty hit, and the wink-and-nudge '20s number "Every Night I Bring Her Frankfurter Sandwiches." After three years as a duo, Pinch and Squeal are organizing bigger shows in their Voix de Ville project — a wordplay on vaudeville that's also French for "voice of the city." Their portable, Kickstarter-funded big top will feature their friends from neovaudeville and neocircus circles: aerial silk dancers, singers, a strongman and a yo-yo champion.