At the beginning of “DRINK! The Sketch Comedy Drinking Game—Chicago Edition,” the performers set a couple of stringent ground rules: you must drink, no puking (complete with directional info on where you can puke) and don’t be an asshole. These set the tone for a show that is as serious as the disclaimers. Corn Productions isn’t trying to go over your head with much in this show. They may, however, try to go through your liver and into your blood stream (biological process not fact-checked) with an impressive number of scenes that call for a drink per mention of a specific phrase or sound. Full participation in the games could potentially lead to a broken rule, but at no point does the cast allude to disapproval of more boozing. So, follow the rules, or at least puke in one of the designated toilets.
The show starts with an opening song and dance that I can’t remember because, well, I played the fucking game. The first actual sketch is some of the cast’s strongest material with impressions of Jason Sudeikis, Kathy Griffin and Mike Ditka—all of whom are trying to make it onto David Hasselhoff’s “Baywatch—Chicago!” Kallie Rolison’s Kathy Griffin is as on-point as Nifer Honeycutt’s Ditka is utterly ridiculous. No judgement; Ditka pops up a couple times throughout the show, gorging a hot dog drawn from his shorts and expertly hawking his special Ditka wine (“Wine is like a beer made out of grapes”).
The focus of the show is Chicago-based everything, touching on the inevitable vote for Rahm, unavoidable dry-humping on the CTA and dibs on street parking after another snowstorm. The simplicity is almost too apparent, though the show’s best moments are when it steps away from the drinking game and plays on other facts of Chicago life. “Thirty seconds of bad improv” plays out delectably for anyone who has had the inauspicious experience of bearing witness to thirty minutes of bad improv. While brief, the concept is both clever and well-executed. It sets up a sketch of “Improv Intervention” which is where the details of the show become murky because of the escalated volume of laughing and drinking.
If retaining brain cells, or even thickening the mucous walls of said cells (biological fact not checked) is what you need, or if you are sensitive to the improv establishment, this show may not be for you. Chicago may be an improv city, but “DRINK!” makes the case that sketch comedy has a place for those who want some laughter and levity, puking-drunk or not. (Logan West)
Corn Productions at The Cornservatory, 4210 North Lincoln, (773)650-1331, cornservatory.org. $10. Through March 7.
Related Stories
Rules of the Game: Lucky Plush Productions Finds Empathy Through Storytelling in Rooming House "We’re always wrestling with how to create a piece that an audience can connect to. That’s by creating a logic, but then we also believe the logic breaks down because life doesn’t work in a clean way."- Less Dead, More Pan: A Review of Killing Game at A Red Orchid Theatre As the corpses pile up, the question arises of what exactly is irritating Ionesco: human folly or human existence itself?
- Winter Theater Preview: 2020 Edition A glimpse of that which keeps our spirits and earthly substances nourished.
- Fall Theater Preview: 2019 Edition A guide to our city's most abundant theatrical season.
- Spring/Summer Theater Preview: 2019 Edition Just as matter expands when temperatures rise, so too does the breadth and scope of our city's theatrical offerings.
