Review: SECOND CITY'S COMEDIAN RHAPSODY at Davidson Theatre

In 1979, in his ironically titled song, “Long Live Rock,” Pete Townshend eulogized the art form, bellowing “Rock is dead.”

In the 1990s, Rolling Stone magazine ran an article, saying comedy is “the new rock and roll.” However, due to the current cancel culture, political correctness, and partisan divisiveness, comedy may be on life support.

Perhaps it is reassuring Second City, the training ground for many of America’s greatest comedic talent, is still thriving. A six-member entourage of George Elrod, Chas Lily, Cat Savage, Annie Sullivan, Max Thomas, and Adisa Williams from the Chicago-based theatre group arrived in Columbus’ Davidson Theatre as part of its COMEDY RHAPSODY tour and proved yes, comedy is still alive and well and can flourish.

The 90-minute show was a hybrid of WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? And SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. It provided the audience with a mixture of sketch comedy (pre-written, universal material) and improv (which involved soliciting suggestions and input from the crowd).

This group’s forte seemed to be the sketch material, a series of quick hitting, less than three minute skits that invoked more laughter than entire episodes of SNL. The best of these was one which the cast of LES MIS arrived at a Lamaze class by mistake.

As a city, Chicago is famous for deep dish pizza, sausage, and the improv of SECOND CITY, which has produced the likes of Bill Murray, John Candy, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Eugene Levy among many others. These six may not be at that ethereal level yet but they are getting there.

Near the end of the show the group picked a random couple and extracted information about their first date and then tried to reenact that moment. The group did the best with the lackluster chunk of information they got, but what can one do with a couple who lists biking and running as their two favorite activities?

Each member of the group added something unique to the performance. Perhaps it’s just the mustache, but Lily has that low key, Nick Offerman type of swagger that allows him to say the craziest things without a hint of irony. For example, in one of the show’s quick hitting sketches, he introduced himself as “Hey, I’m your new neighbor and I am required to tell you that I am also a sex offender.” The neighbor protested, saying “No, no, no! Not in this neighborhood! I’m going to call my senator.” Lily deadpanned, “I’m also your senator.”

Elrod and Williams brought a spastic elastic to the show with their over-the-top characters. Elrod’s annoying, over-friendly impersonation of a Columbus news anchor was dead on. Williams took on a number of roles, but the crowd favorite was her enactment of a woman on a “cow-tipping date” who slowly revealed she lied about everything on her dating profile.

Savage and Thomas carried off characters who were hysterical without trying to be funny. In one moment, Savage was a hapless Starbucks barista, trying to smooth out a neurotic customer attempting to make a good impression. Thomas, who also does Shakespeare, spoken-word performances and was on an episode of CHICAGO PD, brought a physical intensity to his roles without losing that comedic edge. Sullivan was best when she is playing crazy. One of the sight gags of the night was when Sullivan, who was about half the size of Williams, was throwing stones at her ex-girlfriend’s window trying to win her back. Suddenly Williams showed up beside her with his pile of pebbles trying to woo the same woman. Finally, Savage appeared and chucked a large rock at the window, shattering it, and said, “Hey, I’m just here to rob the place.”

Perhaps the best part of the night wasn’t anything in the show, but what was omitted. The group mostly avoided the political landmines, save a passing jab at Ron DeSantis and while far from puritanical, the act was never X rated or over-the-top raunchy.  

As the houselights raised, Savage left the stage saying, “If you liked us, make sure you tell your friends about Second City; if you didn’t like us … we’re the Blue Man Group.”

 

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