People’s nerves were jangling as I entered the Paramount Nightclub at the Crown & Anchor to see Miss Richfield 1981’s latest show, We’ll All be Dead By Christmas. The ticket-takers warned, “it doesn’t matter where you sit, she pulls people from all over.” There were groans from nervous first-timers, but it was clear that the groaning was more of a cover-up for the glee they felt inside at the prospect of being part of the show.Miss Richfield 1981 (played by Russ King) has created a show on the theme of the apocalypse predicted by the Mayan calendar (which says life on earth will cease this December 21st), or as she explains it, “the world is going to end and the Mexicans are involved.”
She begins the show dressed as a cactus, delighting the audience with her attempts to move gracefully while potted around the ankles. True to form, her show integrates whatever unpredictable elements exist in the night’s particular audience. Interestingly, just after she spent ten minutes discussing “the Mexicans” in politically incorrect terms, she found several real Mexicans in our audience on the night I attended. But that didn’t stop her from her hysterically funny Don Rickles-esque assault on various ethnic and other groups. No – We’ll All be Dead By Christmas is not for the socio-politically squeamish.
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