Here’s What the Fifth Estate Has to Say About Trav S.D. & Mountebanks:

American Vaudeville Theatre

“Travis is a scholar of burlesque. His act is an erudite evocation of the sonorus, ornate monologues of W.C. Fields or Fred Allen.”
—Adam Gopnick, New Yorker, July 23, 2001

“Trav S.D. is a one-man arcade with one of downtown’s most eclectic variety shows.”
—John Devore, Theatermania, May 8, 2000

“Trav S.D. whips together shows that are greater than the sum of their parts.”
—Darv Johnson, Brooklyn Bridge, Summer 1999

“What could be more fun than a trip to the American Vaudeville Theatre?”
—Laurel Graeber, New York Times, April 2, 1999

“Infectious low-rent fun”
—Alex Soloski, Village Voice, March 23, 1999

“…vaudeville is alive and I witnessed its resurrection at the American Vaudeville Theatre.”
—Justin Roman, Newsday, March 19, 1999

“Remember the good ol’ days when comedians, musicians, circus artists, actors and exhibitionist weirdos shared the same bill? Well, thanks to AVT, those days are back with a vengeance.”
—Time Out New York, March 11, 1999

“For about the price of a movie, it’s one of the best entertainment deals in town.”
—Marc Miller, New York Today, (New York Times’ Web Site), December 4, 1998

“Vaudeville’s back — in a wacky, seat-of-the-pants, ’90s version created by Trav S.D. and Mountebanks”
—Where Magazine, November 1998

“Variety at its finest … excellent for those suffering from attention deficit disorder.”
—Elizabeth Goodman, Time Out New York, May 21, 1998

“…marvelously marginal and uncannily contemporary …”
—Simi Horowitz, Backstage, February 7, 1997

House of Trash

“This is a burlesque, pure and simple, in the grand comic tradition of Plautus, Goldoni, and Weber & Fields: a rowdy, raucous, profane cartoon of a show—with the blessed ring of truth simmering just beneath the surface.
—Martin Denton, NYTheatre.com, August 19, 2000

“More fun than a Jerry Springer marathon, variety-show host and downtown institution Trav S.D.’s first full-length production is a grab bag of sharp socio-political musings and chicken-fried melodies, with Coors Lite references to boot.”
—John Devore, Theatermania, February 3, 2000

“Trav S.D. is undeniably an artist of intellect, talent and — believe it or not — taste … in the best tradition of theatre the most explosive material on stage [in House of Trash] is language; Trav S.D.’s gift for really extravagant imagery is prodigious. As an actor and a writer, he’s the genuine article — a true man of the theatre.”
—Martin Denton, NYTheatre.com, February 7, 2000

“As a writer, Trav S.D.has a gift for dialogue and creative twists. His comic sense and the sheer weirdness of the script combine to produce hilarity … House of Trash’s characters are delightfully over the top.”
—James Thompson, Columbia Daily Spectator, January 28, 2000

Misshapen Jack, The Nebraska Hunchback

“hilarious, deranged, poetic”
—Laurie Stone, Village Voice, August 28, 1998

“sometimes delightful, never easy”
—Peter Marks, New York Times, August 27, 1998

“Trav S.D. can turn a phrase like a freak show Raymond Chandler”
—John Devore, Propaganda, August 21, 1998