Toronto Fringe Review: 1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go: Live at Grind-Con!

Do you have a weird, tech-bro uncle who is somehow unaware that Elon Musk has drastically fallen out of public favour and talks too much about his car and his sex life? If not, 1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go: Live at Grind-Con can provide that experience for you. Written and performed by Srutika Sabu as her South Indian drag uncle character Santosh, 1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go: Live at Grind-Con is a boisterous, sweaty romp through Santosh’s life as a middle-aged man working at an AI startup.

The show is framed as Santosh’s last minute panel slot at Grind-Con, where he is recording a live episode of his podcast “Second-Hand Success.” This structure is not adhered to strictly, as Santosh often veers off topic to talk about his relationship with his girlfriend, Tessa, who is a second-hand Tesla car.

Sabu is great at toeing the line between laugh-out-loud ridiculous and full-body cringe. Her physicality and especially her facial expressions are fantastic at making the audience laugh. I would be interested to see what she could do with more props or set, since there was a lot of miming. Santosh is a great clown/drag character. He’s a bit of a trainwreck, and you can’t help but feel sorry for him, while also being embarrassed for/by him. He’s not a bad guy; he’s just insecure and kind of awkward and trying really hard not to seem so.

1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go: Live at Grind-Con also has moments of contrast, touching on more serious subjects such as racial workplace discrimination, going through a breakup, and murdering your car-girlfriend’s abusive husband.

Overall, a very successful and hilarious parody of tech-bro culture, told with heart and a lot of car-fucking.

1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go: Live at Grind-Con is on now until July 12 at the Toronto Fringe. Show times and tickets