Emma Sexton, Jenny Graydon, Johnny McGroarty, Josh Davis, Ryan Williams, Stephanie McDonald, and Tristan Lipton from You Lost Me” A Sketch Comedy Show”, Photo by David Pecile
Presented by Solo Act
Is it weird that I teared up at the end of You Lost Me: A Sketch Comedy Show? Is it even weirder that it’s my lede? You need some context. Two important factors: It marked the end of my 2024 Fringe experience and is bookended by two goofy, beautifully realized song and dance numbers about how joyfully meaningful it is to celebrate “stupid shit” knowing we’re all just gonna be dead someday. And something about those numbers just… hit right.
Created and performed by Emma Sexton, Jenny Graydon, Johnny McGroarty, Josh Davis, Ryan Williams, Stephanie McDonald and Tristan Lipton under the direction of Sean Pitre; this show is more consistently clever, eccentric and dextrous than I had much right to expect. And I was fully sucked into each of the deftly executed screwball scenarios. No sketch ever overstays its welcome and feels part of a larger world just beyond the stage.
The Burger Gurgler’s absurdly tongue twisting wordplay? Epic. I can only begin to imagine the rehearsal time required to get through the phrasing alone.
Radium as the latest advancement in commercial manufacturing? What could possibly go wrong?
A tech glitch during a boring office meeting leads to sick beats and devolves—erm, evolves?—spectacularly.
Skewering car design, finding utility in farts, a mayoral candidate takes aim at a pretentious local restaurant—there’s so much, all of it focused and inspired. So much fun and such finely-tuned material.
I am also very appreciative of their aesthetic. The standards for comedy troupes skew towards ubiquitous banality: all-black outfits are a blah convention and the casual-clashing look of disparate everyday clothes is messy and lacks character. This team has a classy cremes and khakis thing going on that’s bright, individualistic and coordinated.
Solo Act has their shit together and the You Lost Me is the hilarious consequence!
You Lost Me: A Sketch Comedy Show
@ Toronto Fringe Festival
running July 3 to 14, 2024
Alumnae Theatre Mainspace (70 Berkeley Street)
running time: 55 minutes
