“the tim & micah project: CONTINUE”
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Avant-garde sketch comedians Tim Soszko and Micah Philbrook are performing at Donny’s Skybox, just a few floors up from Second City, the zenith of traditional, tourist-friendly sketch comedy. For those curious to see just how far the boundaries of normal can be pushed, it’s worth a hike upstairs to catch “the tim & micah project: CONTINUE,” running late-nights on Fridays.
Lean and nerdy, Soszko and Philbrook are deadpan artists toying with perceptions of reality, and their comedy requires intellectual engagement. The laughs aren’t handed to you, like a bottle to a baby. Like a performer such as Eddie Izzard, they demand a cognitive alertness from their audience, and it’s a nice change of pace when sketch comedians actually treat their audience members like smart human beings.
The duo perform a Q-and-A that basically anticipates every complaint you might have with their show. They aren’t afraid to step out of a scene and comment on it, as they do with a hilariously brutal parody of the cliched police interrogation. The show includes a two-part joke about ventriloquists that takes some patience — you get the bit only after you’ve seen the second half, but it’s worth the wait. They also sell the stuffing out of a moment of physical distress you might think is all too real. (It’s not.) Instead of the traditional blackout between scenes, they go the opposite route and bring the house lights up. It’s a small but clever detail. The pair have recorded all their sound effects and music using their own vocals, Bobby McFerrin-style, and it gives the show a homemade, eccentric quality — they hum and doo-bee-doo everything from waiting room Muzak to a truly inspired rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”
10:30 p.m. Fridays through March 5 at Donny’s Skybox, 1608 N Wells St. (4th floor of Piper’s Alley); $12 at 312-337-3992 or secondcity.com
“Breakfast Club: The Totally 80s Musical”
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I like John Hughes as much as the next person, but not enough to watch a cast of actors perform nearly every line of dialogue from 1985’s “The Breakfast Club” verbatim. Without a trace of irony. Or parody. Just an earnest (not terribly good) re-creation of the movie. On stage. Interspersed with 1980s song breaks — the juvenile delinquent breaks out with Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell,” and that sort of thing.
Try to imagine my shock when it became obvious they were going to do the entire movie. Straight-faced. For well over 90 minutes. Tim Dunn’s version of Anthony Michael Hall’s geek is the one fully formed performance that works on its own terms, but the ensemble as a whole lacks the vocal chops needed to sell the musical portions. I actually wish the bad singing was intentional, but something tells me it’s not.
With a play adapted and directed by Jason R. Chin, the cast went to the trouble of mimicking the movie’s costumes, and yet Jessica Joy’s Claire (the Molly Ringwald character) is a platinum blonde. What, no one could spring for a red wig?
10:30 p.m. Thursdays through March 25 at i.O. Theater, 3541 N. Clark St.; $12 at 773-880-0199 or ioimprov.com
