Engagements | Past Seasons | 2009-2010 Season
'Round Midnight
"Let’s mock the midnight bell,’’ Mark Antony urges in Antony and Cleopatra. Ah, even Shakespeare knew that some of the more exciting nightlife doesn’t begin until long after sundown. That’s certainly the case in O-town, where we’ve gone in search of some of the lesser-known slices of life that are out of the ordinary, thanks in part, to the odd hours they occupy. We were not surprised to find out that the later the hour the odder the experience.
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Orlando Magazine
by Staff
October 2009
by Staff
October 2009
Live From Orlando, It’s Saturday Night!
TV execs know that comedy and the late-night hours go together. That’s why David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, the Saturday Night Live gang and their wacky ilk have long ruled the airwaves after primetime.
Comedy also rules in downtown Orlando on Saturdays at midnight, when SAK Comedy Lab presents The Early Show—an improv performance that can be a bit more out there than the ones SAK offers at decent hours.
“What is something that is inspiring to you?” asks one of the half-dozen casually dressed performers, as a recent Early Show begins. Bringing traditional Second City techniques to The City Beautiful, SAK puts on a truly interactive show in which the audience shouts out suggestions as the performers try to spontaneously craft comic scenarios around them.
“Barack Obama!” shouts one of the 100 or so people in the audience. Seeming to find that specific topic slightly daunting, the comedians smoothly broaden the suggestion to encompass the presidency in general. That allows them to spin a fanciful tale about Millard Fillmore that somehow includes a reference to chickens being released.
Even though these performers sometimes improvise themselves into corners, the atmosphere is relaxed, with audience members drifting into the theater during the first 20 minutes of the hourlong show and drifting out during the last 20.
The audience laughs easily and so do the comedians; they are definitely in this together.
The show ends with an extended farcical fantasy, set in an emergency room, that includes such characters as a man with a severed hand, a desperate woman in labor and a befuddled transsexual.
Whether on TV or in person, that’s pretty much the essence of late-night comedy.
—Jay Boyar
SAK Comedy Lab. 380 W. Amelia St., Orlando. 407-648-0001407-648-0001. The Early Show begins at midnight on Saturdays. Tickets cost $10 general admission, $7 for Florida residents, students, seniors and the military. sak.com
TV execs know that comedy and the late-night hours go together. That’s why David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, the Saturday Night Live gang and their wacky ilk have long ruled the airwaves after primetime.
Comedy also rules in downtown Orlando on Saturdays at midnight, when SAK Comedy Lab presents The Early Show—an improv performance that can be a bit more out there than the ones SAK offers at decent hours.
“What is something that is inspiring to you?” asks one of the half-dozen casually dressed performers, as a recent Early Show begins. Bringing traditional Second City techniques to The City Beautiful, SAK puts on a truly interactive show in which the audience shouts out suggestions as the performers try to spontaneously craft comic scenarios around them.
“Barack Obama!” shouts one of the 100 or so people in the audience. Seeming to find that specific topic slightly daunting, the comedians smoothly broaden the suggestion to encompass the presidency in general. That allows them to spin a fanciful tale about Millard Fillmore that somehow includes a reference to chickens being released.
Even though these performers sometimes improvise themselves into corners, the atmosphere is relaxed, with audience members drifting into the theater during the first 20 minutes of the hourlong show and drifting out during the last 20.
The audience laughs easily and so do the comedians; they are definitely in this together.
The show ends with an extended farcical fantasy, set in an emergency room, that includes such characters as a man with a severed hand, a desperate woman in labor and a befuddled transsexual.
Whether on TV or in person, that’s pretty much the essence of late-night comedy.
—Jay Boyar
SAK Comedy Lab. 380 W. Amelia St., Orlando. 407-648-0001407-648-0001. The Early Show begins at midnight on Saturdays. Tickets cost $10 general admission, $7 for Florida residents, students, seniors and the military. sak.com
© 2009 Orlando Magazine