Holiday revues are classic staples around this time of year (Bob Hope had one, and even The Muppets did). So what is it about December that makes us want to laugh loudly and spontaneously burst into song for 25 straight days? Could it be the mega-shopping, the reunion of families and the impending heaviness of another year gone by? Pretty much. You might say the holiday revue is the antidote to our surrounding dysfunction.
How fitting is it, then, that The Second City’s own holiday revue, presented by the company’s national touring branch (a.k.a. some pretty funny people), is called The Second City’s Dysfunctional Holiday Revue? The show is a lighthearted look at the common stresses we face during the Christmas season (I mention only Christmas because, as one of the show’s songs puts it, it’s the holiday that trumps them all. Sorry, Hanukkah! My condolences, Kwanzaa!).
But, as the revue jovially asks, what’s so great about Christmas anyway, when, even if you’re unemployed, you’re still pressured to donate money to “little Jaheeb,” who has to fight off monkeys for his breakfast and lets grown men punch him for rupees? Or how about the time when your parents tried to videotape a holiday greeting for you but couldn’t even remember your fiance’s name?
Yeah, Christmas sucks, especially when carolers are just zombies in disguise.
However, I think The Second City does its best work when it’s on Santa’s naughty list, so my favourite sketches were those that walked a bit on the raunchier side of Christmas. They included a scene in a wine cellar and another which featured a ‘90s-era pop-rock duo called Denim and Lace (probably because I’m a self-proclaimed wino who’s still stuck in the ‘90s).
The former had Allison Price venture into Connor Thompson’s wine cellar during a holiday party in which the opening of a vintage bottle of wine was used as a fun euphemism for sex (tastefully executed, of course). The latter sketch was improvised, set at a retirement home’s Christmas party. Here, with suggestions from the audience, Kevin Matviw and Price hilariously depicted Denim and Lace and created a song with lyrics that included getting your turkey (ahem) stuffed because “Christmas is about exploring your sexuality.” Obviously.
Even though the revue isn’t quite up to the level of The Second City’s current mainstage production, Dreams Really Do Come True! (and other lies), the six-member cast does a fine job of mixing misery with merriment (a slo-mo snowball fight set to the song “Mad World” is a perfect example) with scenes that zip nicely along, interspersed with some fun and festive musical numbers.
I liken it to a holiday bonus from your boss. It might not be as much as you would have liked, but you’re still satisfied all the same. This holiday revue is a tradition definitely worth keeping — and seeing.
The Second City’s Dysfunctional Holiday Revue, The Second City, 51 Mercer Street. Runs until Jan 2.
