Unlike his previous shows at The Hollywood Fringe — Spank the Monkey and Shagadelic: The Origins of Slang Words for Doing It — Michael Blaha has shed his stage persona of Professor Richard Fondler and presents himself in the aptly named Mike Blaha: International Joke.

In taking this step, Blaha has proven what was already obvious: that he is an engaging and entertaining jokesmith of the classical mold. As he uses a microphone in the tiny 30-seat Broadwater Studio, one could easily picture Blaha, his tux tie loosened, drink in one hand, Chesterfield dangling from his lips, on the Tropicana stage in Vegas opening for Wayne Newton. Blaha has that ease in connecting with an audience like Mort Sahl (without the politics) or Bill Cosby (without… well, you know).

He pitches his jokes underhanded, no wild grimacing, no antics, but they make it over the base: “I was bullied a lot in school.  Which is odd cause I was home-schooled.”

Mike Blaha

This newest show recounts Blaha’s international travels, and it’s a lot, including all the good places in Europe, all the bad places in Europe, and places like Andorra and Montenegro – places you may not know are in Europe.

Blaha skips and slides about the global map with a sweet, self-effacing humor, and occasionally slips in a joke. The flaw with the show is that it lacks the promised “international jokes.” It’s pretty much a string of his adventures without a lot of stand-up. Still, it’s good, entertaining fun of the domestic sort.

But it’s the jokes that soar. Like when in Sicily, he was talking to a man who told him his father lived to be over a hundred:

“Wow, how’d he do that?”
“He never argued with anyone.”
“C’mon, there had to be more than that.”
“You could be right.”

See? Right over the base.

Mike Blaha: International Joke
part of The Hollywood Fringe Festival
The Broadwater (Studio), 1078 Lillian Way
1 hour
Thursday June 19 2025, 6:30pm
Saturday June 28 2025, 11:55pm
for tickets, visit Blaha