Comedy review: Improv Centre’s agile cast conjures ’90s holiday TV specials in ’Tis the Sitcom
With audiences supplying the laugh track, the days of “Must-See TV” return in a different form every night, with heartfelt moments arising among hilarious period-correct details
’Tis the Sitcom
The Improv Centre presents ’Tis the Sitcom to December 30
ONCE UPON A TIME, before Netflix binges were at thing, Thursday nights meant one thing: “Must-See TV”. Whether they were Team Friends, Seinfeld, or Will & Grace, audiences everywhere tuned in weekly to watch groups of pals navigate the chaos of city life. And every December, you could count on one thing: a holiday episode.
The Improv Centre’s latest offering, ’Tis the Sitcom, brings that tradition back—with a twist. Created by ensemble member and artistic associate Jacki Gunn, the show delivers a live holiday sitcom episode, with the audience providing the laugh track. Every performance is fully improvised, as the ensemble crafts a new sitcom based on audience suggestions and a different theme each night.
In the performance reviewed, the theme was a seniors’ version of Friends, with the cast of Gunn, Meaghan Hommy, Alan Pavlakovic, Carly Pokoradi, and Ed Witzke donning wigs and costume pieces to portray golden-aged characters. As it turned out, central to the story were Mary Lou (Gunn), a sensitive romantic searching for love, and Mickey (Witzke), an emotionally clueless Amazon delivery worker.
Compared with The Improv Centre’s past offerings, ’Tis the Sitcom is much less of a roundup of Theatresports games used to tell an overarching story. There’s less audience participation and the experience is more like watching a conventional play—except the performers are improvising. Given this, it’s genuinely impressive to see the ensemble weave a coherent story together while hopping between characters. Add to this the fact that it’s always a surprise to everyone, including the performers, where a road takes them. But one thing is certain: the actors always stay fully committed.
At this performance, Mary Lou enlisted the help of an eccentric matchmaker (Pokoradi), who set her up with Jeff Bezos (Hommy, donning a bald cap), despite the fact that Bezos’s wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos (Pokoradi), was in the picture. But Mary Lou’s heart secretly yearned for the oblivious Mickey, who was too preoccupied with his plans to move to California than to “see what’s right in front of him”.
Amid the friend group’s holiday preparations, and frequent trips to Denny’s and Costco, the result was a charming tongue-in-cheek story. There were also some hilarious scenes involving Flair Airlines, including one poking fun at airline’s limited baggage policy. Ever the improv pros, Hommy and Pavlakovic were great at sporadically jumping in as a Flair announcer and captain, adding some riotous humour.
Throughout the performance, the audience was also treated to some “commercials”, which were also improvised and based on audience suggestions. One of these was an ad for a film, which—thanks to viewers’ input—turned out to be Christmas in Newark, a horror movie. Witzke and Pavlakovic played a couple who mistakenly go to Newark for Christmas instead of New York. Another clever moment was a humorous nod to “The More You Know” public-service messages that used to air during prime-time commercial breaks on NBC.
The onstage performers weren’t the only ones stirring up laughter. The tech team of Brendan Kelly and Cian Plunkett-Blazi added playful sound effects throughout. Given the show’s improv delivery, sometimes these effects understandably didn’t match up with the onstage action. And so, for example, when the sound of pouring wine continued after an actor finished miming the action, or the sound of glass shattering unexpectedly filled the theatre, the performers good-naturedly rolled with the action, to the delight of the audience.
Despite all the antics, the cast produced some tender moments. Evoking shades of the Rachel and Ross relationship on Friends, Gunn and Witzke provided the show with a nice relationship arc, and it was sweet to see their zany group of friends come together for the holidays. The action was topped off with a fun song, with Witzke strumming a guitar and each cast member improvising a few lines that made references to the show—and even managing to rhyme.
So, whether you’ve been around the sun enough times to remember “Must-See TV” Thursday nights, or Friends is something you’ve discovered through streaming, ’Tis the Sitcom delivers great humour and endearing characterization—packaged nicely with a holiday-themed bow. Call it the holiday season's “Must-See Theatre”! 
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