Entertainment

Few family-friendly words describe Oly Oddities. That’s the way the hosts like it.

Marlo Winter as Eda Begadix will co-host Oly Oddities on Saturday night at LeVoyeur in downtown Olympia.
Marlo Winter as Eda Begadix will co-host Oly Oddities on Saturday night at LeVoyeur in downtown Olympia. Courtesy photo

The hosts of Saturday’s Oly Oddities don’t care if you come see their show or not.

And if you do come, they don’t care whether you stick around.

“This is a space where performers get to say or do the things that they maybe don’t feel comfortable doing other places,” said Marlo Winter, who produces and hosts the variety show with Phillip Allison of String and Shadow Puppet Theater. “We wanted a space where we could get as weird or as complex as we wanted, where it would be totally OK if people got so uncomfortable that they left.

“It’s a space where everybody, including the audience, can be who they are,” she told The Olympian. “There’s space to leave openly or stay and get weird with all of us. It’s a very strange show, and to me, it’s the epitome of acceptance.”

Saturday’s show will feature storyteller Elizabeth Lord, comedian Sam Miller, puppets by String and Shadow and more, along with proudly weird hosts Eda Begadix (Winter) and Tasty the Clown (Phillip Allison).

Though she also wears clown makeup, Eda isn’t really a clown. “I’ve never done any professional clowning,” Winter said. “I just dress up like a clown and act like an (expletive).”

At the first “Oddities” in June, Allison and Winter swallowed live goldfish and …

You might want to stop reading now.

Seriously.

OK. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

They swallowed live goldfish and attempted to puke them back up.

“It was a disgusting idea that went probably even worse than we planned,” Allison told The Olympian.

Neither fish escaped.

“That was a great moment in my life,” Winter said. (And she sounded serious.)

“To have a venue where I get to play and access that part of my personality is really fun for me,” she said. “I’m having a blast.”

No fish swallowing is planned this time around, Allison said, adding, “We’re trying to keep the mystery high and hype it for all it’s worth.”

Though there’s no telling what they’ll do next, the hosts do want to be clear that “Oddities” is not appropriate for children and might not appeal to many adults.

“This is going to be really gross,” the Facebook event page warns.

Allison, speaking as Tasty, summed the show up this way: “You have to give the people what they didn’t know they wanted. Sometimes they want silence, and sometimes they want to be covered in goo.”

Oly Oddities

  • What: Be warned. This variety show — featuring String and Shadow Puppet Theater, storyteller Elizabeth Lord and comedian Sam Miller — is intended to be gross, grotesque and “an assault on the senses,” as co-host Phillip Allison puts it.
  • When: 7-10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1
  • Where: Le Voyeur, 404 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia
  • Tickets: $5-$10
  • More information: http://stringandshadow.com
  • Also: It’s not suitable for kids, the producers say — and it might not suitable for a lot of adults, either.
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