The November edition of Two Bunnies Eating Flowers and Sovereign's monthly show HIJINKS, was one of the most special, rewarding shows I'd had the pleasure of seeing in a long time. Following through on the huge ambitions displayed during their past independently produced sketch shows, the show was a total delight.
Things began with all five cast members performing a delightfully stupid musical number entitled "Chicago Comedy," a pitch-perfect knockoff of a Second City mainstage opening song. Check out the demo version of the song as performed by it's composer, Tim Joyce.
The cast then promises to tell the audience all about comedy in Chicago, but to do so, they'll have to leave the theater. Apparently there's some sort of legislation in place that prevents a performance from FORCING an audience to leave the theater, so for those not interested, a screening of The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas with a Two Bunnies/Sovereign-recorded Rifftrax played over it.
If you'd like to replicate this experience, grab your DVD of VRV and push play on the Soundcloud link below!
We were then escorted through the back door, behind the stage, out onto the sidewalk in front of the theater, and were then told to board an idling party trolley was parked nearby. I don't think a comedy show of any type has made me feel the way I did during this reveal. I was overcome with genuine delight and excitement, as I marveled at how committed to executing unique, thrilling ideas these two sketch groups are.
I won't share too much in the way of details about what specifically happened on board the trolley, but on the way to iO, the first stop on the Chicago comedy tour, we pulled over to check in with Pizza Party's Brian McGovern, who just happened to be walking through the neighborhood. After plans to visit iO and put up a last-minute Saturday night show were shot down, we turned onto Clark and headed north towards the Upstairs Gallery, stop #2 on the tour.
As the trolley pulled up to the Gallery, The Dirty Shame's Matt Barats was just leaving, and was brought onto the trolley and harassed by our increasingly frantic tour guides, who have become desperate in their search for an actual venue to actually tour.
The trolley leaves Andersonville after it becomes clear that we won't be able to visit the Upstairs Gallery either, and as we're headed back to the Public House Theatre, driving through a completely different part of town, we pass by Brian McGovern again. McGovern is accosted by our unstable hosts and left shirtless on the side of the road, to endure the late November weather all alone.
Check out the map used by the HIJINKS crew when putting together the route, as well as the text of a group text message between all those involved in making the man-on-the-street cameos happen.
When the trolley returned to the Public House Theatre, it was revealed that Jude was actually Osama Bin Laughin, notorious comedy terrorist, in disguise, who used the trolley ride as a ruse to blow up the PHT. Pictured below is the WANTED poster for Bin Laughin, which was posted all over the lobby of the theater before the show began.
Without giving too much away, the show's conclusion managed to be totally dumb yet satisfying. This was a fantastic capper to what has been a pretty great year for both Sovereign and Two Bunnies Eating Flowers. I hope these two groups continue to push it as hard as they have been, they're fearlessly working towards something truly original and unseen in live sketch comedy.