Wok Hard, The Story of Stir Fried Crazy - Can I talk to you for a sec?

Let me just say right off the bat, I think it's pretty great that you've got a bunch of buds that you like to hang out with and that you crack each other up when you're being all crazy and goofy together.

And good on ya for taking it the next step into the ol' "hey, let's put on a show!" territory. So props for having the get-up-an-go to take it to a level higher than the majority of bong-huffing basement buddies that lay around all day giggling at their own oh-so-clever jabs at the wackiness of popular culture. Sketch is the rarest and most endangered class of comedy in Canada and it desperately needs more crews putting themselves out there to resuscitate it.

But guys, here's the thing. You've gone and entered your show into a popular theatre festival and you've charged your audience money for it. This means that you have a responsibility to make sure that there is a certain amount of quality control involved in your process before you go live before this audience of yours. Sketch is in the sorry state that it's in right now primarily because it's very, very hard to do. I know, I really do, I did quite well in the world of Canadian sketch comedy and my crew has now gone its separate ways. Few groups ever keep it together for the long term. It's delicate to work as an ensemble without letting our egos get in the way. It's impossible to tell what you look like and what you sound like from the inside looking out. And it's hard to tell your friend that what they're doing just isn't working for, you know, the sake of the show, and it's even harder to hear it.

So to start out, you really need a good director. Someone who's well-versed in the mechanics of theatre and professional live comedy. They could tell you that you're very hard to hear when you talk at that level, especially when your mouth is obscured by a mask, and that you must project to the back of the room. They can encourage you to fully commit yourself physically to the action and really listen to the people you're sharing the stage with before you react to them. And most importantly, they can give you notes on timing. Comedy, all comedy, is not funny without an impeccable sense of timing. This is a very important note.

They cannot, of course, tell you that your material is tired and doesn't work. That part is entirely up to you. And if you think that there's still room left in the well-trod world of comedy for Steven Seagal-is-lame jokes, homosexuals-are-so-gay jokes and piles upon piles of Asian-people-talk-funny-and-have-small-penises jokes, then there's nothing anyone can do to help you with that. That's all on you, and if you have any aspirations to take your sketch comedy jag further than this show, you might want to consider writing some material that doesn't play off obvious, done-to-death, sophomoric themes.

If, however, you're just doing it to amuse yourselves and your friends, well, I hope you're having a good time. It looked like you were. Next time just keep it in the basement.

Produced by Binky Productions Directed by Darren Joe & Simon Yang. Starring Erick Boychuk, Roberto Castillo, Jonathan Masataka Endo, Jasmine Lee, Angela Liu, Trevor Wallace and Simon Yang.

For more information and to debate this show go here.