There’s sketch comedy and there’s sketch comedy! Regicide, playing at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse as part of the Toronto Fringe, is sketch comedy of the best kind.

The show is written and performed by Emma Davey, Peter DeCourcy, Carson Gale, Gina Phillips, Sam Roulston, and Christian Smith. They all have some Second City in their background. It’s directed by Kerry Griffin, Second City Mainstage director. With that kind of talent and background you know it’s going to be funny.

And it is. It’s fresh and inventive and sometimes a bit weird. The best kind of comedy.

The show opened with “Massive fuck-ups in history” complete with little songs and a couple of names from the news. It also ended with another take on the same topic. Nice symmetry.

MEC  was the setting for two of the sketches and was mentioned in a couple of others. No idea why, but it was funny.

Coming home on the streetcar I thought about Sam Roulston’s Devon farmer and his pig and laughed out loud. Maybe that wasn’t a Devon accent; I don’t really know.

The other things that stayed with me? Christian Smith’s vampire with the flicking tongue that just kept going, even when he wasn’t really in the scene anymore; Emma Davey and Gina Phillips and the search for the elusive IUD had a familiar, funny ring ; and Emma Davey and her drunken struggle with her pants was very funny. I loved her determination that the pants were not going to win.

A very enjoyable 60 minutes.

Details:

• Regicide is playing at Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse (79 St. George St)
• Tickets are $12 in advance, $10 at the door.
• The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes for serious Fringers.
• Tickets can be purchased online, by phone (416-966-1062), from the festival box office down Honest Ed’s Alley (581 Bloor West), or from the venue box office starting one hour before the performance. Venue sales are cash-only.
• Be advised that Fringe performances always start exactly on time, and latecomers are never admitted. Set your watch to CBC time, and arrive a few minutes early to avoid disappointment.
• Harbord/Hoskins is closed between St George and University so the Wellesley bus is detouring on Bloor between Spadina and University. Allow yourself some extra time to walk from Bloor or College.

Remaining Showtimes:
July 04 at 07:30 PM
July 06 at 05:00 PM
July 07 at 03:00 PM
July 09 at 12:15 PM
July 10 at 09:15 PM
July 11 at 03:30 PM