A Cautionary Tale, With Gift Bags

Mike Albo was a struggling 40-something freelance writer in New York City when he landed a gay dream gig for the New York Times, writing the twice-monthly Critical Shopper column that equally afforded him prestige, an outlet for his witty brand of observation and the ability to finally pay his rent on time each month without having to visit the local Coinstar machine. But when he accepted an invitation from a seductive corporate sponsor to go on a mystery trip -- known as a "junket" in news circles -- and a snarky media blogger cried "conflinct of interest," the Grey Lady dropped him faster than a reporter who helped start a war based in bogus information. Albo's devastating loss is our gain -- "The Junket" -- his devastatingly hilarious one-man show, playing now through April 20 at the Lynn Redgrave Theater in the East Village. While my ability to objectively review this may be clouded by the fact that it hit all of my SEO key terms -- bitchy bloggers, hot gay men,  media hypocrisy, hunky Internet billionaires in tight T-shirts -- even my disinterested hubby was dying laughing throughout, because Albo is a gifted storyteller who can make the most ridiculously unrelatable situation seem strangely relatable to us all.

My rating: Four stars.
For tickets and information, click HERE.

P.S. When you get home you might find yourself searching online to see if some of the people in the story are as hot as Albo makes them out to be. They are.