'Stamptowns' Jack Tucker turns late-night clown carnage into Netflix special

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Set us as preferred Jack Tucker descends from the rafters inside L.A.’s Montalbán Theatre like a kamikaze crash landing into his big moment.He’s flanked by fountain fireworks while a buff guitarist with a blond mullet and glittery spandex shorts wails on guitar to the tune of Lenny Kravitz’s cover of “American Woman.” With the garish gusto of a WWE wrestler, Tucker’s entrance as the ringleader of the show “Stamptown” electrifies the stage.But the show truly starts when it falls apart with technical mishaps.

Everything breaks, guns go off, an illusionist loses his clothes and jumps fully nude into the crowd — all within the first five minutes.It’s a chaotic comedy world created by classically trained performers, including clowns, who’ve studied the art of physical humor and shredded the rule book.For more than 10 years the Stamptown troupe led by Tucker, the alter ego of comedian Zach Zucker, has created an insane asylum on stage — from Elysian Theater in Echo Park to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.

The show’s comedy thrives on failure, interruption and never actually getting to the “script.” This week the madness leaps from the stage to the screen as Stamptown premieres its first Netflix special Tuesday.“This is a lot of people’s first time being exposed to this,” Zucker said, cracking a mischievous smile while sitting in a red velvet chair inside the empty Elysian Theater where his crew has performed “Stamptown” for years.“I have seen a man light his penis on fire 45 times in my show.

I forget that when it comes to comedy, most people are used to seeing a person with one microphone stand still and talk.”Filmed over the course of three performances during Netflix Is a Joke Fest in May, the spliced together “Stamptown” special directed by Rachel Lee Golde...