"No one could accuse Fleming of tailoring his act to please a conventional audience. His stage attire lies somewhere between "androgynous hipster" and "clown," and his only criteria for a premise appears to be "What does my brain fixate on?" He expects his audience to keep up with any cultural reference his Massachusetts-born, millennial, Skidmore arts-graduate brain might make without ever stopping to explain what, say, "Gatsby-esque" might mean in the context of Bitmoji."
"But Fleming leaps past other wry wordsmiths with his constant, unrelenting effort to wring every last drop of laughter out of every single premise. Whether the audience is onboard with the topic or not, Fleming ensures that every moment he's onstage, something is actively entertaining the crowd, be it a face, voice, absurd movement, Katt Williams-level act-out, perfectly timed music cue, or just continued exposure to his over-the-top hair and wardrobe."
Chris Fleming revels in creating work that is not tailored to audience expectations, following David Bowie's advice to never play to the gallery. His stage persona mixes androgynous hipster and clown aesthetics, and he selects premises based on obsessive mental fixations rather than broad accessibility. Fleming layers dense cultural references tied to his Massachusetts, millennial, Skidmore-educated background without pausing to define them. He wrings maximum laughter from every premise through faces, voices, absurd movement, elaborate act-outs, precise musical cues, and extreme hair and wardrobe. "Bitmoji Anthropology" showcases his blend of dead-on cultural accuracy, sharp character work, and manic physical commitment.
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