Skip to content
Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Promotional art for War Paint
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Prime Video

War Paint

Iliza Shlesinger

Prime Video · 2013 · 75 min

A physical stand-up hour about dating, hiking, and girls' nights.

Watch on Prime Video(opens in a new tab)

or watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Iliza Shlesinger relies on a highly physical stage presence, using strange voices and character work to map out the social dynamics of young women. War Paint captures her breaking down the exhausting mechanics of modern femininity. She acts out the reality of a girls’ night out, the indignity of catching a table corner in the crotch, and the lie of pretending to enjoy hiking.

Filmed in 2013 at the Lakewood Theater in her hometown of Dallas, Texas, the hour was Shlesinger’s first full-length special. She had already gained national attention as a winner of Last Comic Standing, but this set established the frantic, creature-like act-outs that became her signature. The resulting album reached number one on the iTunes comedy charts.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Sarah McLachlan commercial parody

    Brings out her adopted dog to parody the somber Sarah McLachlan SPCA advert and sing 'Angel'.

  2. The one-eyed cat transformation

    Physical act-out and vocal impression of an outlandish one-eyed cat.

  3. Witch-like pharmacist

    Transforms into a grotesque, witch-like character behind a pharmacy counter using exaggerated voices and facial expressions.

  4. Pretending to like hiking and ordering salad on dates

    Dissects the behaviors and pretenses women adopt while navigating dating rituals.

  5. Wrangling drunk girls for food

    Describes the chaotic logistics and group dynamics of escorting intoxicated female friends to eat at the end of a night out.

How it plays

Tone
Acerbic, irreverent, intense, and silly.
On stage
Acerbic, sharp, and stream-of-consciousness, contrasting an innocent appearance with intense, silly, and biting commentary.
Pace
Lightning-fast pace with high physical energy and rapid stream-of-consciousness momentum.
About
dating habits and rituals, female friendship and girls' nights out, makeup and beauty standards, pretending to like hiking, ordering food on dates, commercial parodies and talking animals

What the critics said

Praised by Exclaim! for high precision delivery, lightning-fast stream-of-consciousness momentum, and inventive vocal mimicry, while noting some pop culture references felt dated and certain sound effects were overused.

In the room: Energetic hometown Dallas theater audience subjected to her relentless stream-of-conscious delivery.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, comedydynamics.com, netflix.com, imdb.com, exclaim.ca, letterboxd.com, broadwayworld.com.

Backstory

Filmed in Shlesinger's hometown of Dallas, Texas.

Details

Released
Taped
The Lakewood Theater, Dallas
Runtime
75 min
Where
Prime Video
Director
Jay Chapman
Topics
Before
Comedy Central Presents (2010)
After
Freezing Hot (2015)

More from Iliza Shlesinger

If you liked this