Spotlight at The Second City: September Review

It’s always been difficult for sketch comedy troupes to find sufficient stage time. Sure, festivals like TOSketchFest and the Fringe bring much-needed attention to the art form, but what about the rest of the year? While many venues are equipped to showcase stand-up, the technical requirements for sketch — lighting and sound cues, bare minimum — are beyond their capability. Self-producing is often the only route. 

Now a new series is providing a solution for both comedy troupes and fans. Hosted and produced by Taylor Hreljac and Gabe Meacher, Spotlight at the Second City features two emerging sketch troupes a month, for a two-night run. Each troupe gets a 30-minute set, which is more than enough time to give you a sense of their work, divided by an intermission. 

The series kicked off earlier this week (September 2-3, 2025) with two talented troupes, amiably introduced by Hreljac and Meacher.

The high energy sextet Potato Potato, who opened the show, is promising, but at this point they lack a clear point of view. Their concerns include Toronto’s horrible rental situation, sex and dating in the age of hookup apps, and bicycle lanes. If you ever thought Mayor Olivia Chow was attending a lot of functions, they’ve got a funny sketch about that, too. 

Their strongest sketch imagines the blonde, Austrian-accented people at Therme who are going to invade the former Ontario Place. This bit deserves to go viral.

Some scenes don’t quite land. One about a post-space-voyage Katy Perry lacks a raison d’être (and the vocal prowess to at least entertain us). Another, about several PAW Patrol canines dealing with real-life crime, needs serious editing. 

Of the six members, not everyone has a chance to shine and show their personality. But they work well together, as they demonstrated in their very funny, well-choreographed closer, which reworks a song from a well-known musical about 20-somethings to illustrate what’s really on the minds of today’s Gen Z.  

I was more familiar with the second troupe, Small Friend Tall Friend, who impressed me a lot two years ago at the Toronto Fringe. (They were a five member troupe, and now seem to be down to four.)

What I like about this group is that even their less successful sketches have a kernel of truth and authenticity about them. Their opening scene, in which a genie has granted only one of the four their wish, is a clever way to tell us what they individually want — hence, what motivates them. The blackout line is inspired.

Identity and sexual politics underlie most of their sketches. One of the funniest sequences skewers a corporate training video about DEI, where it turns out the company is less interested in diversity than in hiding the salaries of its employees. 

Two sketches from the earlier Fringe revue have been tweaked. In one, an actor delivers an acceptance speech at the Oscars, and soon realizes that she only gets “played off” by the band when she discusses diversity. In their final sketch, the troupe cleverly points out how sci-fi movies can hide behind a metaphor for colonialism without being diverse in their casting. 

If there’s a sameness to some of the troupe’s themes — queer rights, white privilege — they also know how to just be silly. Using film stills to help illustrate their point, all four complain about how the Robert Eggers horror movie Nosferatu got them all horned up — over the creepy imagery. 

Smart comedy for the letterboxd.com set? I’m here for it. 

Spotlight at The Second City continues monthly. Tickets and schedule details here.