Sunday, January 16, 2011
Second City Customizes a Show for Rochester
NYTimes.com: "SKEWERING the city where a comic is playing is one of the oldest tricks in the stand-up handbook. It’s also one of the easiest: Philadelphia has crazy sports fans. It rains a lot in Seattle. And in Rochester. ...
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2 comments:
Talk about knowing your audience. Regional-izing these shows is a very smart way of not just getting a local audience interested in a touring show, but more importantly, it gives the audience a sense of ownership over the show. They get to feel like they're a part of it because their town, which is so important to them, played such an important role in the show, despite being written by "outsiders."
I was glad to note, though, that Second City is keeping their show in check by having a company member remain ignorant about the town. Regionalism versus universality is a fine line to walk, we just mostly have to hear it about NYC or LA.
Personally, I think it would be a little weird to watch a show making fun of my city when I know the performers are not actually natives. As a local resident, it seems like you'd already know all the jokes, especially with a smaller city, and it might be boring/offensive to hear them from people who haven't lived in your city for long. It would be interesting to see a show and see how I react, though. Maybe I'm wrong and it would be hilarious.
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