“You look like Midtown women love you and not just because they have 100 cat boxes to fill.”
Any idea who comedian Katrina Coleman could be talking about here? Yep! The very publication you’re reading right now: the Memphis Flyer. And they’re right, and we did, in fact, chuckle. We also asked for it. After all, they’re bringing back their You Look Like series, where all the jokes start with “You look like,” and we could not pass up being a part of the fun.
You Look Like began back in 2015, Coleman says. “I would go into parties or social groups, and I would start it in sort of a round-robin way. It was a thing I thought was fun. And another comic Tony Oler pulled me aside and said, ‘This would make a great show.’ He got me to sit down and write the format.”
The format is simple: Comedians go head to head in tournament-style rounds and ping-pong “You look like” jokes back and forth for five minutes at a time. It’s fast-paced, loud, with lots of (voluntary) crowd participation. Everything’s voted on by the audience. Volunteers get to have “You look like” jokes thrown at them, too, and folks can even write down their own jokes on slips of paper to be read at the end. “Someone told me once, ‘You look like you can’t have a car with a sunroof because you’re triggered by glass ceilings,’” Coleman says. “It feels like a roast show, but they don’t know anything, so it’s just perception. It could be a completely made-up story. Although you will learn about yourself — like you definitely learn about yourself.”
The show was a hit, so much so that it was a monthly series at the old P&H Cafe, got a webseries made by Craig Brewer, and spread to four other cities — Austin, Denver, Houston, and Atlanta. Illuminati Bath and Body even made a “You Look Like” burn cream and lip balm. “It was actually really good for sunburns,” Coleman says, “and when someone lost their round, they’d get a little dab of it to soothe the pain.”
But in 2020, all that momentum came to a halt because, well, you know why. Now, though, in the grand year of 2024, You Look Like returns. “It’s a game I love to play,” Coleman says, “and I love to watch and I love to host the show. And I missed it. My fellow comics around town kept telling me that they missed it, too.”
For this comeback show, the players will be Allison McArthur, Lamon, Big Mickey, Charlie Vergos, and Natalie Rhodes. The winner will get one of Coleman’s classic crowns. “It’s whatever piece of headwear I can find,” they add. “I hot glue a lot of stuff to it. It usually lights up. It’s always the most insane thing.”
Coleman says the goal is for You Look Like to return to being a monthly series, this go-around at Hi Tone (RIP P&H). For now, the comics will be local, but as the show regains its momentum, Coleman plans to bring in people from other cities, too.
You Look Like, Hi Tone, 282 N. Cleveland, Saturday, January 20, 9 p.m., $10.
