Renegade comedy at the Met

CON ARTISTS Arnheiter, left, and Hill, shirtless per usual.

Photograph: Stephanie Gussin

Is there anything funny about a Rembrandt? Seriously, is there? We don't know. And neither do Carl Arnheiter and Dave Hill, but they set to find out Friday 8 at Fancy Meeting You Here, a stand-up show/tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Arnheiter, host of the popular interview series Inside Joke, and Hill, a sweet and supremely dry performer and cable host, are both fans of using public areas for comedy. So when they had trouble finding a space for a stage show they were planning, they decided to take it to the Met.

Meet on the steps in front of the museum at 7:30pm and you'll be led through several exhibits by the duo, who've procured a docent pass for the event, and "guest comics" Michelle Collins and Rob Lathan. So far, that's all they've got.

"It's going to be a roving comedy show…kind of," says Hill. "We don't know whether or not it'll actually work. It might be a complete disaster. But it'll end on the roof, which is one of the best places to have drinks in the city, so worst-case scenario there's that."

Arnheiter gave the guest comics only one instruction: "I don't want people to just do their regular stand-up set, except it happens to be in front of a Van Gogh." Lathan says he'll probably create a character of some sort, but adds, "I guess the first thing I need to do is study the map, so I don't get lost."

Jokes Hill, "If you have a solid ten minutes on the Impressionists, you're home free." What will be his focus? "The Egyptian stuff with dongs. Because I am a man-child."

Fancy Meeting You Here begins promptly Fri 8 at 7:30pm on the front steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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