How does a boy grow into proper manhood when there is no father at home to teach him?

Comedian Ralph Harris tackles that social conundrum with equal measures of humor and insight in his latest one-man show, “MANish Boy,” which opened Tuesday at Charlotte’s Booth Playhouse.

Best known for his standup and television appearances – he was a finalist on the TV series “Last Comic Standing” – Harris said the show is in large part autobiographical, at least in its theme.

Raised in Philadelphia and now living in L.A., he said he’s spent much of his adult life wrestling with the ill effects of his absentee dad, who left home when Harris was seven. At age nine, he said, he decided to become the “the man of the house.”

“I was pretty much raised by the village around me,” he told Qcitymetro during a phone interview.

And that, in a nutshell, is what “MANish Boy” is all about – Harris, on stage alone, recreating some of the unforgettable characters who helped him grow into the man he became.

--There is his longsuffering mother who knows what her troubled son is thinking long before he utters a sound.

--The angry father who, as Harris remembers it, might show up unannounced and could switch without notice from “Happy Dad” to “Devil Dad.”

--The grandfather who moved in when Harris’ father checked out.

--The drunk/high Uncle Earl who did the best he could … or maybe not.

--The seductress Miss Betty, his mom’s best friend, who taught him other aspects of being a man.
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In the photos above comedian Ralph Harris plays some of the characters who influenced his life. (Photos: Qcitymetro.com)
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True to his roots in standup, Harris begins the show with a short monologue. He soon gets a phone call summoning him back to Philly -- an old girlfriend, it seems, is demanding a paternity test.

For the next 90 minutes (no intermission), Harris time-travels back and forward between the present – the pending DNA test and his conflicted feelings about fatherhood – and reliving the past through the characters he recreates.

“How am I supposed to be a father when my own dad didn’t want to be a father,” he pleads at one point.

“What kind of man leaves a 7 year old?” he says on another occasion. “What did I do to deserve this?”

One of Harris’ most memorable characters is his grandfather, a doddering old man who, in his own way, is full of grace and wisdom. When Harris ambles onto the stage in hat and thick glasses, it’s hard to accept that the man before you is not advanced in age.

And then, of course, there’s Miss Betty.

Despite the funny, the show is painfully real – a stinging commentary on the millions of neglected boys who grow up never knowing their dads.

“My pop wasn’t Mike Brady,” Harris said on stage, referencing the “Brady Bunch” character who, for years, was the only model he had for what a father should be – singing as he cooks breakfast and solving all problems in 30 minutes.

Harris said performing the show is therapeutic in some ways but also emotionally exhausting. He said he better understands now why his white and Jewish friends all have therapists.

“I have to relive everything I experienced as a kid, from my father leaving and everything,” he said.”

Harris said he and the show’s director, Oz Scott, are hoping to one day take “MANish Boy” to Broadway. He said he believes the show’s themes have universal appeal.

“A lot of young men -- and a lot of young African Americans -- do have that experience, he said, because no one, no other man, shows them how to express their feelings.”

As for his father, Harris said he worried at first how his dad would feel about the show. Much to his surprise, he said, his father has been encouraging. This weekend, in fact, Harris’ mother and father are traveling to Charlotte – together – to see the final show.

“They remained good friends,” he said.

IF YOU WANT TO GO:
The show willbe performed each night through Sunday.
Wednesday: 7:30 p.m.
Thursday: 7:30 p.m.
Friday: 8 p.m.
Saturday: 8 p.m.
Sunday: 3 p.m.

Click here for more information.

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