Sketch comedy is a curious enterprise. Each vignette provides a small enough template for actors to expand upon a cleverly written joke or scenario but is simultaneously long enough for a weaker idea to fall flat. This is apparent in even the most well known sketch comedy programs; classics like Saturday Night Live and the Second City shows garner laughs and glares in equal amounts. The trick to these programs rests in having the good rise above the bad, and this, I would argue, makes for an enjoyable performance.
Now entering its 139th year, Victoria University’s annual “The Bob” opened this past Thursday on a positive note. Directors Jake Howell and Arathana Bowes opened the show by encouraging viewers to “show us your Bobs,” a foreshadowing of the punnery that would envelop much of the program.
The show got it right in sketches like “The Edible Woman” and “Willie Shakes’ Bar and Grill.” The latter’s Shakespearian-themed restaurant proved comedic gold, with Nick Duranleau channeling Steve Martin as a waiter who’s had to tell patrons about the “Midsummer Night’s Cream” and “roasted rack of Hamlet” a few too many times. The former, with its gynecological fixations and Freudian bite (the “downstairs crumb catcher” or “hairy basket” housing an unwelcome guest), struck a desirable balance between staging, timing, and pop-cultural mining. It also managed to incorporate a certain Canadian author and Bob alumnus while remaining tastefully offensive, which unfortunately can’t be said about the whole show.
This isn’t to say that certain topics are automatically taboo; it’s just that prolonging the focus can churn out groans. The show was not without its share of shifty moments; a sketch about Jesus Christ having a meal with his caricatured Jewish parents and a drawn out section on a self-destructive Taylor Swift jumping to mind. Similar sequences (and there were a few) could have benefitted from trimming, as their central conceit could not sustain an entire sketch.
However, for every stumble Howell, Bowes, and their cast encountered, they took steps to correct themselves with good lighting, good staging, and professionalism. 2011 finds an uneven pair of Bobs that ultimately makes for an enjoyable performance. It is admirable to find any show that can have its brighter moments outweigh its faults, and though it often struggles, The Bob won’t make you regret spending that $10.
