Practical Summer Fun Continues!

5 More Shows at Studio5!

“Vic & Paul & Dana’s Funny Summer Show” is midway through its run at Studio5 in Evanston. There’s one more show tonight, June 25 at 7:30 — then four more shows next week, Thursday through Sunday.

As always, Studio5 features adult beverages and acres of free parking. The PTC provides the laughs.

This Practical Theatre comedy revue includes new sketches, a jazz quartet and a groovy dance troupe.

Here’s what the Evanston Roundtable had to say…

Three talented performers, dare I say senior citizens, who are proven comedians have returned to Evanston from successful careers in Hollywood.

As part of Practical Theatre Company, they have put together a comedy revue, Vic & Paul & Dana’s Funny Summer Show: an hour and a half of clever sketches with professionals who know how to deliver a line.

Victoria Zielinski, Paul Barrosse and Dana Olsen have a long history together, and it shows in how they interact on stage, always in sync and milking laughs from each other.

Barrosse and a group of fellow Northwestern University students originally founded the Practical Theatre Company in 1979. After some success in Chicago, members of the group were hired by Saturday Night Live for the 1982 season. They were young and their humor was edgy and about having fun with current events and politics. 

Their material is still about having fun, but the topics they focus on are now geared to older audiences: computer confusion, pickleball, health conversations, community fights and subjects that might seem mundane but are actually fodder for comedy.

Their sketch about ChatBot artificial intelligence taking over their jobs as comedy writers, starts the evening. The side effect polka sketch, song and all, is a hilarious medical commentary. And a pickleball sketch, complete with older guys proving their masculinity over a challenge competition, is a witty take on today’s pickleball craze. Meanwhile, another conversation centered on complaints about potholes leads to a more savvy political satire. 

Comedy takes energy, and the performers need some breaks in-between sketches.  Their creative solution is to have three young women provide dance interludes, and also serve as stage hands as they move pieces of the set around during their dance moves. 

It’s nice to know ahead of time that the entertainment is going to be an evening of good humor with skilled performers and plenty of laughs. I recommend going to “Vic & Paul & Dana’s Funny Summer Show” with friends and leaving together in good spirits!

Welcome back to Evanston, Practical Theatre Company, and welcome back Zielinski, Barrosse and Olsen.