Gynomite!

So I’ve seen some good sketch comedy lately and I thought I’d tell all of you about it.  You should know the following things about me before reading this:

1. I am hard to impress when it comes to sketch comedy.
2. The people I’m reviewing are, in fact, friends of mine, but click just to gaze in wonder at my objectiveness.
3. This is just my opinion, and really, who am I?
4. I’m Gynomite.  Hi, nice to meet you.
5. I wouldn’t talk about these if I didn’t think each and every one of you would enjoy seeing them.

Last night I saw Macho!, the two woman show from the brains of Joselyn Hughes and Brooke Van Poppelen. Both ladies are stand-up comics in New York, both have moved from Chicago, and both have some improv training as well.

Instead of 30 minutes of short sketches about different characters, they created three long sketches of well-developed characters and story arcs and broke them into easily chewable, alternating segments.  The result was wonderful, with fun cliffhangers, excellent character development, and great energy throughout the entire show.  The ladies got a chance to work their physical comedy skills to the max, and had some really original ideas about demon-possessed child actors and boatfires.  The weakest piece was the pre-recorded bumper that played over the PA in between sketches, mainly because of the sound quality.  I am pretty damn sure that the Brooke and Jos will get a run from last night’s show, and I highly recommend that you check it out.

Two weeks ago I saw Littlebitch, the one man show from Thomas Middleditch, also at the UCB, and luckily for you, it’s happening again tonight at 8pm.  Thomas is an actor and improv guy that moved to NYC from Chicago.

The show features a ton of great character pieces, all with completely unique voices, patterns of speech, and….shit, auras?  I’m not great at this, but you can tell they are all distinctly different people.  In one he plays several characters involved in a murder mystery, with a great surprise ending, and another was a hilarious narrated piece about a guy getting dressed.  Even his bumper, which features an animated British panda bear who is terrible at crowdwork, was imaginative and engaged the audience completely.  His sketch of Daniel Plainview (from There Will Be Blood) auditioning for Pulp Fiction was ingenious, though it relies on audience participation, which can make it feel like it’s running a bit long.

Don’t believe me?  Check out his TimeOut review!

Finally, even though they don’t have a standing set show of sketches, you have to check out Team Submarine whenever you can.  That’s Nate Fernald with the beard, and Steve O’Brien without the beard.  They perform all over town, and yes, they are from Chicago.

The Team does a unique blend of stand-up, sketch, and improv, bantering back and forth with each other sometimes and performing entire characters other times.  Both are funny.  Their pizza jingle bit is solid gold, as is their racism towards Klingon bit and just anytime where they are discussing things with each other.  Go here to check out their blog and upcoming show dates.