Out & About: Native America comedy group melds cynicism, satire
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The 1491s sketch comedy group describes themselves as a “gaggle of Indians chock full of cynicism and splashed with a good dose of indigenous satire.”
Their name obviously refers to the year prior to Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World and the advent of European colonization.
Nothing is sacred when they take the stage, as members Dallas Goldtooth, Bobby Wilson and Ryan Redcorn did April 12 for an appearance at Art on Tap 2.0 in The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg.
The performance was part of special programming in conjunction with “Mingled Visions,” an exhibition of historical and contemporary photographs and other works portraying Native Americans running through June 30.
The self-described “group of indigenous misfits” hailing from the wooded ghettos of Minnesota and buffalo grass of Oklahoma started making YouTube videos in 2009 and has branched out to live shows, panel discussions and other events around the globe.
Alternating videos with live sketches, the 1491s lampooned everything from hipster Indian wannabes and tacky souvenir shops to buffalo hunts and a sweat lodge ceremony that turns into a passive-aggressive prayer contest between an ex-husband and a new boyfriend.
No one and nothing goes unskewered — but the 1491s do it with such a light touch that you might not even notice the jabs.
Seen at The Westmoreland: Sally Loughran, Jim and Kathy Longacre, Barbara Ferrier, Gene James, Josh and Kary Milan, Joan McGarry, Keith and Shirleah Kelly, Erica Nuckles and Drue Spallholz.