The penultimate night of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival featured a thrilling collaboration — a Canadian sketch comedy super-group of sorts — in Get Some, and a thoroughly bizarre karaoke cavalcade with Marty Topps. Topps, the moustached musical impresario, came armed with a keytar, backing tracks, and his silently brooding partner Jean. A Torontonian with a devoted local following, Topps interacted with the audience through song, rarely mincing words between tunes. He sang songs of tacos, infidelity and genitals with the grace and nuance of a goat giving birth to a helicopter. While his particular brand of synth-pop lunacy may not have been for everyone, those privy to his peculiar wavelength sang along with enigmatic conviction. Their passion was summarily rewarded with cold, airborne burritos, leaving a miasma of rice, beans and laughter in their wake. It was a fun — if strictly two dimensional — set.
Following Topps' generous bombardment was Get Some — aptly referred to as the Broken Social Scene of Canadian sketch comedy. The cast is comprised of 11 comedians including members of Picnicface, Tony Ho, The Sketchersons, Peter n' Chris and This Hour Has 22 Minutes: the list of names reads like a fantasy sketch troupe draft.
Attempts to describe Get Some's ludicrous antics risk becoming a load of unintelligible nonsense in translation. Of course, nonsense is Get Some's wheelhouse. They explored the treacherous nature of divulging the health secrets of yogurt, the revolting potential of the word "pleasure" and the calamitous hijinks that result in being bitten by a werebaby. The set culminated in the delightfully gruesome demise of the lovable Charlie Chaplin at the hands of the despicable Charlie Chaplin, and was met with a standing ovation.
Following Topps' generous bombardment was Get Some — aptly referred to as the Broken Social Scene of Canadian sketch comedy. The cast is comprised of 11 comedians including members of Picnicface, Tony Ho, The Sketchersons, Peter n' Chris and This Hour Has 22 Minutes: the list of names reads like a fantasy sketch troupe draft.
Attempts to describe Get Some's ludicrous antics risk becoming a load of unintelligible nonsense in translation. Of course, nonsense is Get Some's wheelhouse. They explored the treacherous nature of divulging the health secrets of yogurt, the revolting potential of the word "pleasure" and the calamitous hijinks that result in being bitten by a werebaby. The set culminated in the delightfully gruesome demise of the lovable Charlie Chaplin at the hands of the despicable Charlie Chaplin, and was met with a standing ovation.
