Credit Prop 8 rage, empty campaign promises or just an extended absence (the company’s last show was 2007’s iHOLE), for the particularly sharp talons on The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme (which opened last night at Strawdog in Lakeview), the latest sketch comedy revue from queer jokesters GayCo.
In the opening sketch, for example, the fuss over gay marriage is brought front and center as a male couple in the Hawkeye state frets over the doldrums of domestic life. “I want the free rings, but not the baggage they bring,” one groom laments. The solution? Marry in Iowa for wedded bliss, but cross back over the Illinois border for bachelorhood.
In other sketches, Gayco points fun at gender reassignment surgery and its impact in the workplace, Anderson Cooper’s unwillingness to come out and the Daley Machine. It also takes swipes at FOX news and its claim to be fair and balanced as three news anchors wonder if Obama is turning our nation socialist, black and gay. Is this even a parody, you may wonder. It’s a thin line at best. But the show is funny mostly because GayCo has never had trouble making fun of the LGBTQA (LMNOP) community and all its foibles. In the best sketch of the evening, the infinite number of speeches given at gay rallies gets spoofed. “We’re here to represent the super cougar sub dom lesbian community!” one woman shouts through the megaphone as anxious protesters wait in vain to hit the streets.
While the show is unabashedly queer (but still straight accessible), educational and entertaining, it’s also not perfect. Audacity aims to spoof the broken promises made by president Obama, but is missing the man himself. Racial diversity has never been a GayCo strong suit. That’s not entirely their fault of course, out improvisers of color are probably lacking. But without one, the satire is limited.
Ultimately, fences are mended in Audacity. A finale finds a same-sex couple bonding with a group of Iowa women over ham balls. Who would’ve guessed that big, meaty balls would ultimately bring straight women and gay men together? No comment.
The Audacity of Nope plays Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday through December 5. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at gayco.com.
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