Monday, May 24, 2010

White Lady With A Black Baby

The next installment of  
Mel & El: Our Time of the Month 
is happening, people!
 
 
 
We've got new songs (White Lady With A Black Baby!), a fabulous guest (Andrea Alton!) and very important topics to cover (pheromones, kegels, scatting!). If you saw it last month, there's lots of new wonderful-ness. If you didn't make it last month, there's even more new wonderful-ness! Just click HERE to make a res.
 
Mel & EL: Our Time of the Month
Thursday, June 3rd
7:30PM
Comix, 353 W. 14th Street, NYC
$10 (cash) at the door
Delicious food & drink available but not required
Reservations here
 


 
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Monday, May 17, 2010

Doppelgangers

Sometimes we meet people who remind us of our friends or, even, ourselves. Sometimes we meet someone with the same name or birthday and, ooh, that's freaky! Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy our first few emails with The Other Mel & El:

Mel and El,

I can not believe it!  I was checking BroadwayWorld.com and almost peed myself when I saw an article on your new show.  I'm sure you run into people with this same story all time, but my name is Melanie and my best friend's name is El.  We've known each other since childhood as well, and still work together today.  As professional ballroom dancers and actors/singers, we just recently started a not-for-profit dance organization called Ellanie to bring the arts to underfunded schools in the Chicago area.
 
I just could not believe that there is another set of best friends out there with the same names...and that you two are so damn fierce! We both look forward to keeping an eye on all of your performances, and hopefully getting to see you at some point! 

And lastly, your "I'm Mel" and "I'm El" tshirts... seriously.  So funny. Please tell me you sell those!  We must have them!!!!
 
Take care, and know that you brightened the days of another set of Mel and El's!

Melanie
--------------------
Dear Melanie,

No... we've never run into anyone with this same story. We think it's
AMAZING! We got your email and couldn't stop talking about it last night. We love every single detail of the whole damn thing! Especially the photos - you're fiercely hot mamas yourselves!

We can't wait to meet you both. Surely our paths will bring one set of
us to Chicago or the other set to NYC at some point. Unfortunately, we don't sell those shirts. Who would wear them except other Mels and Els???

So great to meet you - keep in touch, please.


XO,

Mel 2 & El 2
--------------------
Greetings from the Parallel Universe!

This is the other set of Mel and El.  We were so excited to receive your email this weekend.  We were also excited to find out (through Twitter) that your version of Mel loves to watch Hoarders, too.

Just because it seems that we have the same lives, we wanted to ask you a few questions to see if you had other random similarities to us:
  1. Does your El have an unexplainable and debilitating fear of stickers and all things adhesive?
  2. Have you ever made mix CD's for each other entitled “Mel Belts” or “El Belts” that include all your favorite songs from musicals?
  3. Have you heard about the kid who threw a message in a bottle into the ocean in Bermuda and 1 month later it showed up near her home in Massachusetts?  So, yeah, do you think if we threw a message in a bottle into Lake Michigan you would find it in the Hudson?  We do.
On a final note….
We were watching Animal Planet the other day and they said that bed bugs are on the rise and are taking over New York.  Please be careful. 

Yours truly,
Mel and El – the Chicago Chapter

Amazed? Scared? Apathetic? To be continued....

Monday, May 10, 2010

Blabbin' All Over Town


Please enjoy this interview we recently did with the Philadelphia Gay News in advance of our show in New Hope this weekend for Pride!
XO
Mel & El

Hilarious duo returns for New Hope Celebrates
by Larry Nichols

Mel & El are more than happy to head back to Harlans Cabaret for New Hope Celebrates’ Pride festivities on May 15 — if, for nothing else, the menu offerings.

Known offstage as Melanie Adelman and Ellie Dvorkin, the two real-life longtime best friends have accrued a cult following in New York City, performing in some of the city’s best comedy clubs and cabarets, as well as at events like “Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad,” “The Big Gay Variety Show,” “The Miss Fag Hag Pageant” and here! TV’s “Busted.”

And if these two are as on at Harlans as they were when we talked to them, New Hope is in for one hell of a time.

PGN: How does Harlans in New Hope compare to the clubs and venues you normally play in New York City?

EL: We love Harlans!

MEL: It’s classy, it’s well-decorated and it’s just as gay as anything in The Village.

El And we have never ever seen a roach or a rodent. So in that way, it’s probably nicer than most NYC clubs.

M: And the drinks come in real glasses, not Dixie cups.

E: And they put, like, six olives in the dirty martinis.

M: And they have blue cheese mashed potatoes. Yum.

E: Yeah, Harlans is better. We like it the best!

PGN: After meeting at the age of 12, at what point did the two of you realize you we going to join forces to become the toast of New York nightlife?

M: We didn’t realize it until a few years ago. We performed together as kids, but then we went our separate ways for college. We both did the move-to-New-York-and-audition thing and had separate careers for a while, but once we decided to join forces there was no turning back.

E: I think we always wanted to perform together, but we had to gain a certain amount of experience on our own in order to really appreciate the beautiful symbiosis that’s achieved when we work together.

M: Did you really just say “symbiosis?”

E: I did. As “the toast of New York nightlife,” I stand by my vocabulary choices.

PGN: Your show has been described as “Laverne & Shirley” meets “Sex and the The City,” but are there any musicians or performing artists that you draw inspiration from for your performances?

E: We try to just be ourselves, but there are definitely performers that we love who have influenced us along the way. Funny bitches like Bette Midler and Tracey Ullman ...

M: Carol Burnett and Jane Curtin and Gilda Radner ...

E: And we love comedians who make music, like Sarah Silverman and Tenacious D and Flight of the Conchords.

M: But we’re female friends who get a little naughty, hence the Laverne & the City, Sex & the Shirley thing.

E: That was clever!

M: Thanks.

PGN: You are both performers and writers outside of Mel & El. Do the two of you work/perform more as individuals or as a duo?

E: We kinda can’t tolerate performing with anyone else anymore.

M: El! That’s not a very politically correct thing to say.

E: It’s true. I mostly hate everyone but you.

M: Yeah. Me too.

E: Well, maybe “hate” is a strong word.

M: Other people require words to communicate with each other. We’ve gotten it down to a series of winks, nods and shrugs. It’s much more efficient.

E: We’re like bushmen. You know ... with the clicking?

M: Sshh ... no more.

PGN: For the record, do either of you identify as gay?

E: Mel? Do you want to answer that?

M: I identify as bisexual, but it has been quite a while since I ... flexed that muscle.

E: I’ve never flexed that muscle, but I would if any females would ever hit on me!

M: They don’t hit on you because they know you’re straight.

E: Once this article hits the stands that’s all going to change, baby.

PGN: Are you doing anything special for your performance at New Hope’s Pride celebration?

M: Oh, yes. We’ve put together some very special surprises.

E: Mel’s going to show everyone her penis!

M: Just ignore her.

PGN: Who is the most famous person you have ever seen attending one of your performances?

E: Madonna loves our show. She often sneaks in the back wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses and dances along to the “Vogue” tribute section in our song “Fagnet.”

M: Actually, I think that’s a drag queen.

E: Actually, I think it’s this girl I know. She’s stalking us.

M: You should date her.

E: Nah. She’s not a very good dancer.

PGN: Your new CD is called “She’s My Bitch,” so ... which one of you is making that statement?

M: We’re both making it. We’re each other’s bitch.

E: It’s very complicated. Just when I’m certain that Mel is my bitch, I realize that I’m hers.

M: It’s symbiotic.

E: Look what you did with the word usage!

M: You’re welcome.

PGN: Recently you did your “Gay Married” show in New Hope. What’s next, “Couples Therapy”?

M: Actually, we just launched a brand-new regular monthly show in NYC called “Mel & El: Our Time of the Month.” But “Couples Therapy” is cute!

E: Where were you when we were naming things?

PGN: Languishing in poverty and obscurity in Philadelphia. But enough about me ... What’s the next step on your paths to superstardom?

E: We’re working on pitching our TV show idea to some networks. It’s highly confidential at the moment, but keep your fingers crossed!

M: Yeah. And if that doesn’t work out, we’re going to kill off Kathy Griffin and Tori Spelling and take over their careers. Because, you know, we kind of resemble them.

E: So if you see ads for “Tori & Kathy: Couples Therapy” on Bravo, you’ll know it’s really us.

M: But don’t tell anyone, OK?

Mel & El perform at 9 p.m. May 15 at Harlans Cabaret, 6426 Lower York Road, New Hope. 

For more information, visit www.harlanscabaret.com or call (215) 862-5225.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Really bloody funny. Period.

Hello, friends.
 
We are still in recovery from hosting the Miss Fag Hag Pageant on Sunday night or, as the producer called it, 'Gay Vietnam'. Some hightlights (happily bullet pointed by Mel):
  • The part where we had the fabulous drag-comedian Miss Kitten Withuwhip singing our Fagnet lyrics back to us while we frantically tried to put on our makeup.
  • The part where Mel kept losing her place in her "hosting note cards" because she was making goo-goo eyes at John Cameron Mitchell (who was a Judge).
  • The part where El had to shush a room full of 350 rowdy gays who were upset because of a mistake made about The Golden Girls in the Gay Q&A Competition. She. Shut. It. Down. But in a really adorable way.
And now...we hope that all of those Hags and their Gays (and all of the rest of you wonderful people who don't identify with either of those groups) will come join us THIS THURSDAY, May 6th at 7:30PM for...
 
 
 MEL & EL: OUR TIME OF THE MONTH!
Really bloody funny.
Period.
 
You can make a reservation by clicking right HERE.
Zero food/drink minimum. Ten bucks. An infinite number of laughs.
 
There will be a Special Guest Appearance by the hilarious Carrie Gravenson and, as always, we will be accompanied by our brazilliant composer Patrick Spencer Bodd.
 
We'll see you there. Once we shake off our Gay P.T.S.D. from 'Nam,
 
Mel & El
 
Fun, ice cream photo by PJZ Studios.
Makup by Erin's Faces.