In December a group of friends and I saw the
Second City's latest comedy revue
Something Wicked Awesome This Way Comes, and in the holiday busyness, I failed to plug its hilarity.
Now going into its last week of shows, I figure it's better late than never, right?
I saw my first
Second City show with my family for a Christmas outing, back when I was a young undergrad.
Oh how we laughed at the outlandish comedy that we knew was somehow based in truth. There were sex jokes and bad words and highly animated characters that appealed to each of our senses of humour.
Watching
Something Wicked, however, I realized I may have now actually hit the
Second City's key demographic. I wasn't just laughing because the situations were funny, but because I felt like I've lived (or easily could live) some of them.
Many sketches point to how our lives now so heavily revolve around technology. Perhaps my favourite saw the horror and awkwardness that occurs when two Facebook "friends" cross paths in real life and feel obligated to say hello.
Another sent up the smart-phone know-it-all, who doesn't let a question hang three seconds before consulting his iPhone to share the definitive answer.
Yet another exemplified how someone falling during even the most tragic of events -- a funeral -- can become funny the moment video of it is posted on YouTube.
Of course, the show also tackles the humour of relationships, with one sketch depicting young parents who have decided they just don't want their kids anymore and would prefer to reclaim their lives. Bizarrely relatable, that couple personified the selfish 20-somethings of today (I include myself here), who need to do a lot more living before attempting to be responsible for other people's lives.
Finally, this show expertly incorporates topical sketches that are hilarious and pointed. It opens with a sendup of the summer's G20 chaos, and later finds humour in the touchiness of two friends debating about the Middle East.
In another sketch, a Cabinet Minister oh so expertly (and transparently) deflects the media's questioning about the environment. And the show's explosive finale drew laughs as well sombre thought due to its topicality.
Along the way we get some frivolous treats, including a brilliant pop song spoof entitled 'Words,' and a depiction of what the club scene would look like if it was a video game.
A well-rounded, sharp and thoughtful revue of comedy, performed by an animated and on-point group of actors, the title
Something Wicked Awesome This Way Comes doesn't lie.
