Spotlight at The Second City: February Review

Earlier this week, the Spotlight at the Second City showcase of emerging sketch comedy troupes managed to cure the winter blues — at least for a couple of hours.

After producer-hosts Taylor Hreljac and Gabe Meacher introduced the night on Tuesday, illustrating six quick blackouts — what they called amuse-bouches — the show proper began with the promising group Legally Brown. 

The quartet’s opening sketch introduced the themes they were to deal with for their half hour set. “The Brown Notes,” a trio of stylish singers from what appears to be the 1940s, delivers a boogie-woogie song to their old-timey agent/manager over the phone. The latter informs them that they need to alter their act to achieve success, since the public loves “exotic yet unthreatening acts.” 

One by one, they get rid of everything that makes them unique, until there’s nothing left. This is brutally effective satire, including a blackout line about “experience” and “exposure” that will resonate with pretty much every millennial artist in any artistic field.

The troupe’s second sketch takes on institutions’ unsubtle attempts at achieving diversity and inclusion by spoofing the famous “Sorting Hat” sequence in the Harry Potterverse. Clever. 

As directed by Second City mainstage alum Brandon Hackett, the troupe — consisting of Saba Akhtar, Yazmin Butcher, Jacqueline Ashton and Kirthiga Rajanayagam — riffs on genre and pop culture, satirizing dating shows and horror movie tropes with energy and enthusiasm. 

Many of the sketches call out for stronger editing, however, and some performances could use more nuance. Still, you’ve got to love a show that references Ghost’s Oda Mae Brown or that has a clueless white lady saying, “I learned about reparation after watching The Blind Side.” 

Emily Jeffers, the second act on the lineup, is building an impressive resume of solo character work, as anyone who saw her hilarious recent Toronto Fringe show Bitty-Bat and Friends can attest. Now comes her Mathemagician, who as her set progresses delivers exponentially funny material.

Decked out like some Dollarama Galileo in green cloak and shaggy wig and beard,  Jeffers’ numbers-obsessed alter ego quizzes us on all things mathematical, drawing out audience participation with real skill. She’s always grounded and alive to all the shifts and outbursts from the audience, always staying in character. 

Whether she’s turning an abacus upside down for a great calculator joke or teaching us some surprising things about statistics, she’s a delight. The Mathemagician even opens up about a recent breakup, giving the show an emotional undercurrent that adds heart and depth. 

Is this sketch, or an extended character scene? It doesn’t matter. Jeffers is an original, hugely talented artist in the exciting first few years of her career. And that adds up to something special. 

Spotlight at The Second City continues monthly with new troupes.
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