"One man. Multiple decades. BOOMER is a comedic, raw, and deeply personal exploration of a lifetime of changes. The experience and characters exemplify a generation, reflecting on the world they inherited, the world they built, and the world they are now leaving behind."
THE TIMES, THE PLACES, THE MEMORIES
The '60s
“During the Vietnam War, I lived in a house where you didn’t ask a lot of questions, mostly, because you were afraid of the answers. I just assumed that if that war was still going on when I turned eighteen… I was going.”
Detroit
“Motown… music with a smile so bright, it blinded you to the fact that the city was on fire. In the ‘long hot summer’ of 1967, U.S. Army paratroopers were in the streets with the Michigan National Guard.”
The ‘70s
“Except for the music, the 70s hit like a bad hangover. Nixon resigned and suddenly, my dad’s Chrysler looked like a fossil. The "System" looked like a rigged game.”
CALIFORNIA
“California was my ‘awakening.’ Venice Beach was my ‘holy boardwalk,’ where the night met the eternity of the sea, the edge of America, where everything loose landed, and the great psychedelic wave finally broke and rolled back, leaving a cesspool of human wreckage from a failed revolution.”
THE PERFECT SHOW FOR YOUR AUDIENCE
A complete theatrical experience that fills the room. Sharp, fast, and genuinely funny. Audiences who came for laughs leave with something more. Cross-cultural appeal that resonates with all generations. Adult themes and language. Non-political content. A show that sparks conversation.
Minimal tech rider, maximum stage presence. “Turnkey” show. The show is 100% self-contained. I bring my own integrated sound system and foot-triggered wireless audio cues. All I need from the venue is a standard power outlet and basic stage lighting. Perfect for 30 - 100 seats.
THE PERFECT SHOW FOR YOUR VENUE
THEATERS
PERFORMING ARTS CENTERS
SHOWCASE
ALTERNATIVE SPACES
Universities & Colleges
Corporate Events
HOME OWners Associations
The '80S
“Her heavy eyeliner was streaking down her cheeks into her smudged red lipstick. With her hair chopped short and bleached to a stark chemical blonde, she wore the standard thrift-store uniform of the moment: mandatory plaid skirt, shredded fishnets, and combat boots.”
NEW YORK
“New York was an inglorious paradox. Dangerous urban decay, freezing subways covered in graffiti, alongside an escalating explosion of creative energy and wealth. Broadway - mostly tired revivals, Christopher Street—throngs of men in black leather, battling the horrific AIDs crisis.”
Europe
“You’d walk past a crumbling Baroque church at two in the morning and see punk rockers with spiked hair and leather jackets leaning against the three-hundred-year-old stone walls, trading bootleg cassettes. On the church steps, long lines of destitute, broken men queued for their dawn handouts. Families of gypsies moved through the plazas with barnyard animals on leashes and monkeys on their shoulders, while African immigrants spread blankets on the pavement, selling cheap wares under the streetlamps.”
The '90s
“And then came that fateful Tuesday. It was a sky-blue sky. Just a perfect day. September 11th, 2001. I was exiting the Fulton Street subway when the first plane hit, and then fifteen minutes later, I was on Church Street, in front of Century 21, directly across from the World Trade Center, when the second plane hit the South Tower.”
BOOMER is a 75-minute (NO INTERMISSION) solo performance that mines the rich, the ridiculous, and the moving territory of THE BABY BOOM generational experience.
Ken Straus weaves together sharp observational comedy, personal storytelling, and pitch-perfect character work to create a show that feels both universal and deeply personal. Audiences don’t just laugh — they remember.
The show tracks the arc of the Baby Boom generation — from the idealism of the ‘60s and ‘70s through the excess of the ‘80s and 90’s, the destruction of the World Trade Center, and the bewildering present. It’s a comedy about time, identity, and the gap between who we thought we’d be and who we actually became.
Crucially, it’s non-political. No sides, no lectures — just the shared human experience of growing up, getting older, and trying to make sense of it all. Whether your crowd is 35 or 75, BOOMER meets them where they live!
