The Second City touring show gives you an reason to turn off Netflix and go out on a Monday night.
America- Canada jokes are not new, in fact you’ve probably heard them all but you haven’t seen them like this before. From the small one liners to the larger sketches the troupe provides a unique look at some Canadian/American clichés.
My favourite moment was the true to life portrayal of raccoons. A hard topic to take on and master the team of Aimee Ambroziak and Allana Reoch did a great job bringing to life the struggles of Torontonians and raccoons. I can only image the hours of research that went into this knowing that both are method actors. It was funny, it was a satire, it was a cliché, it was well executed. In fact the whole show was well executed, which is not something you get all the time in sketch comedy. There are usually some scenes that go on too long or others that just seem out of place, but this performance got it right, especially on the timing.
The show runs like a standup comedy routine and once the punch line is reached, the sketch ends and moves on. The audience is still laughing but no one is whispering “when will this end”. And, much like a comedy show, the show loops back in their material, taking tidbits from earlier sketches to incorporate later on in the show. The best example being the Canadian anthem which sadly is coming under a lot of attack lately (always). The show ends with an improve segment that can always test the boundaries of the cast and audience. There were portions in the actual show in which there was also improve, the audience is asked to participate, and portions in the show where you felt the cast took some leniency with the script and added their own improve.
SC TourCo – LR – Greg Cochrane, Nadine Djoury, Sharjil Rasool, Allana Reoch, Aimee Ambroziak, Josh Murray – Photo by Racheal McCaig
When it comes to the cast, they have a great chemistry and work well off each other. There wasn’t a single sketch where you felt one person was leading it and the other was just there to bounce jokes off of. I also really appreciated how well they mixed up the cast members in scenes. Often time you’ll get one person who tends to always be “that guy” or a few scenes where it’s always the same 2 people. This isn’t really what you want in a fast paced comedy show. These sketches delivered on mixing up the cast for our enjoyment.
So make Monday nights your new get out and laugh night, I think that use to be Thursday, and see a really well put together performance.
Tickets available online via http://www.secondcity.com/tickets/ or by calling 416-343-0011
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