What's funnier, a sasquatch afraid to walk or a pterodactyl scared to fly? It was up to the audience to decide at the Oct. 23 Panic Squad clean comedy show at the Centennial Centre.
A few hundred people came out to see the show that was hosted by the Bonnyville Baptist Church, and as Pastor David McClain described, a way to try and connect to the community.
He said much of today's comedy can be “very uncomfortable” and unsettling.
That's why the church brought in the Panic Squad, a comedy troupe that has experience performing for both secular and religious audiences.
“The idea of this is clean, that you can still be very, very funny without having to be obscene,” he said. “And that was the thinking behind this as well, that you can bring family, kids and not have to worry about them having a good time.”
The Panic Squad's three-member team performing that night had the audience laughing out loud with its improvised comedy that included audience participation.
One sketch featured two younger audience members assigned to move the body parts of the comedians into funny positions while they acted out a scene.
In another sketch, two of the comedians were participating in a debate contest, while the third comedian acted as the announcer. The catch was that the debaters didn't know what they were debating, and had to guess while the moderator acted out the audience-generated topics. The first topic was a dead cat stuffed with jellybeans versus a moose head in a bathroom.
The announcer acted out the cat scenario by acting out a cat, a killing motion and then the stuffing process. The audience would say “ooh” once the comedian was close to guessing it. The comedian had the dead cat stuffed with something part figured out, but couldn't guess the jellybeans. The announcer acted out a candy machine, which the comedian thought was a safe, and guessed that it was “the weirdest safe you've ever seen,” to the audience's laughter. The announcer then tried to act out a rabbit to signify the Easter bunny and lead him to guess jellybeans. The comedian thought he was acting “coo-coo for Coco Puffs,” which had everyone laughing again. The announcer tried to get him to guess jelly by spreading it on bread. When the comedian still didn't get it, the announcer pretended to show flab jiggling in his stomach, to more laughter in the audience.
When the announcer imitated a moose for the other comedian to guess, he let out a yelp. The comedian thought it was an animal that had eaten some “bad Tim Hortons” and after realizing he was wrong, guessed “bad McDonalds.” The announcer then demonstrated going to the washroom. The comedian, who was acting as a British pop star living in his mother's basement, was then able to guess it.
“What I like when I go to the restroom is a moose watching me,” he said, to much laughter from the audience.
