Gabriel Meacher and Grace Smith, Cereal in a Mason Jar at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival
Cereal in a Mason Jar (Grace Smith and Gabriel Meacher) has both hits and misses at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival 2020. Language, grammar and instructional presentations figure prominently in their act.
Several sketches fell flat for me. Two grade schoolers trying to intimidate bullies with penis references that get out of hand, an epic battle between a woman and a spider, a mother revealing her menstrual demon to her young son: I appreciate the absurdity of it all, but for these scenarios to land, I have to buy into their reality and I couldn’t. The execution is too sloppy.
Some sketches were quite compelling. An expert presentation on the digestive system for second graders is very funny. Those crass instructional aid illustrations are what did it for me. They go further than expected with the gross-out factor and it really pays off.
A recurring gag about confrontational or awkward scenarios turning suddenly romantic is near perfection. It’s a simple bit, but it’s tight and effective. It proves that this duo, when focused, is capable of very persuasive delivery.
Smith and Meacher have clever comic ideas and the acting chops to sell them, they just need to hone their execution.