Spotlight at The Second City: November Review

Tik Tok Boom

Since there’s no December showcase of emerging sketch comedy troupes, hosts/producers Gabe Meacher and Taylor Hreljac ended the monthly series on a high note, featuring two acts that have lots of appeal. 

We all know that social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok have altered our attention spans. Who among us hasn’t wasted hours endlessly scrolling through reels?

Now a sketch comedy troupe with the clever name Tik Tok Boom is leaning into this fact of contemporary life and delivering up shortform comedy — in their live show. 

An example? A woman looks down affectionately at her belly and rubs it, cooing, “I love you already.” Aww, sweet, right? Yes, until someone shouts out, “Pass the ball!” and we realize our assumptions were wrong. 

Or a woman takes a couple of contented drags on a device, prompting the guy next to her to ask, “What flavour vape?” Her answer? “Asthma.” Oof. 

Writing and staging such quick scenes isn’t easy; these are the theatre equivalent of old-fashioned comic strips. More traditional sketch troupes will punctuate their act with brief sketches like these to mix up the rhythms, and provide a breather from more extended scenes. 

My problem — and I could sense the audience around me feeling the same thing — is that after half a dozen of these punchy scenes, a feeling of exhaustion sets in. Even having to acknowledge a sketch’s end with applause every one or two minutes feels like a chore.

That said, Tik Tik Boom is obviously talented, with a few performers — Madeleine Brown, Kent Penaranda and Aaron Rubinoff — standing out with their energy and focus. (The others had some projection issues.)  

Sarah Conway

The second part of the night belonged to solo sketch comic Sarah Conway, a fearless performer with a confident voice and point of view. 

She began with a brilliant scene in which she played a HR head addressing office workers after an incident at a corporate outing at an amusement park. She committed to the bit, her writing and performance filling in all the details, unafraid to make her character be the butt of the joke. 

In her next sketch, she played a restaurant server who forgets to ask a table she’s serving if anyone has allergies. Her presentation of the material is what makes it so special, and she heightens it all with her manic performance. 

A sequence pitching an Air Bud movie featuring MAGA-loving canine, as well as an interactive karaoke sketch both have their charms.

But it’s her closer, in which she emerges from backstage dressed as a gigantic oat flake asking the audience for oat milk (an ingredient that was brought up earlier in her set), that takes her act to a whole other level. 

Based on her half hour of material, I’d watch her any time, any place. I’ll just make sure I’m not going out for coffee afterwards. 

Spotlight at The Second City wraps November 14, and returns January 2027.