Like a fiery Hot Toddy or a stiff eggnog and rum, ‘Live from Officials It’s Wednesday Night’ dinner theatre delivered a festive jolt of hilarity to the packed audience at the sold out show on Nov.29.
The evening of comedy, which was directed and produced by Jacqueline Holliday of Angry Squirrel Production, featured a cast of locals performing skits borrowed from SNLs most memorable skit list.
“I really think living on the West Coast, people want to laugh. They don’t want something too heavy to think about,” said Holliday.
Each one of the 15 or so episodes had its own special quality and precious moments of pure comedic joy.
“Nobody should assume that [the show] just falls into place. People were taking their scripts home and separating in groups,” notes the producer.
Breakout star Dale Holliday took to the Officials dance floor turned drama stage in the skit titled ‘Caulk’. His performance gave this reporter a stitch from laughing so hard, not to mention a thirst more Christmas beer.
Miranda Oliwa, Sarah Hogan, and Frederic Montpetit’s version of the famous SNL sketch ‘Schweddy Balls’ was deliciously on point.
In the sketch ‘Ew!’ and ‘Motivational Speaker’, Dean Bieber seemed comfortable playing the role of the awkward dad, but his character in ‘Film Beats’ was truly explosive if not stupendous.
“I kinda got thrown into everything and learned on the fly,” Bieber said of his acting debut.
Teen thespian Cameron Graham showed off his acting aptitude as ‘Sara’ in his rendition of ‘Ew!’, a parody originally created and performed by American comedian Jimmy Fallon.
“The dress took a lot of pushing to get me into that. I was so nervous to do that. The wig helped a lot I’d say.”
Graham added that in he based the voice for the character off a cartoon on the TV Show Adventure Time.
“Not a lot of people got that, but on Wednesday night I got a guy come up and loved the voice because he loved that show. He was the first person to get it.”
‘Cell Block Tango’ transcended the SNL rip-offs as the lone original number written by Courtney Johnson.
“We came up with the idea one night drinking wine. A couple days later, Courtney emailed me with a script,” said Holliday, who is currently working on a third theatrical installment for the bar.
“We are always looking for new people. It’s always good to get new blood,” she said.
If you are interested in performing, email the director at: Jackie.menard@mac.com.
An adult musical theatre program is also scheduled to start-up in January. Anyone interested in joining should keep an eye out for details in the District of Ucluelet Winter Recreation Guide.