Live from Columbus, It’s Monday Night!
The smell of pizza permeates the brick-walled, loft space above Mikey’s Late Night Slice downtown. On the second Monday of every month, the loft is used as the performance space for sketch comedy group Monday Night Live (MNL). Much like the show it’s named after, MNL features a combination of live, scripted sketches and digital shorts centered on current events with a local angle. This month’s show was rife with political digs, and it was hosted by Sarah Storer and Joseph Moorer of Hashtag Comedy—a Columbus-based improv group.
Storer and Moorer’s duologue provided an energetic opening to the show. The guest hosts found themselves rehearsing a “script” provided to them by the MNL writers. Storer played herself playing Donald Trump, and Moorer played himself playing Trump’s gynecologist. Storer’s Trump (complete with slits-for-eyes and duck lips) easily rivaled Jimmy Fallon’s most recent impersonation.
The first sketch of the evening was a town hall debate featuring third-party candidates R. Kelly (“Make America Shake Again”), Whiggy McWhiggystein (the only viable choice, despite his red wig), and the Frankenstein-esque monster Johnson-Stein (who talked monosyllabically and required a juice box when he couldn’t control his rage).
Rife with gamer humor and double entendre, the “Nerdtactics Guide to Sex” was a high-energy, fast-moving sketch and Moorer did a great job using famous video game sound effects and music to comedic effect.
The closing sketch, about a milquetoast couple who are inexplicably turned on by the sounds of Time Warner Cable’s hold music (seriously who isn’t) while strange, was the highlight of the show. The couple lost various articles of clothing the longer they were on hold and by the end of the sketch, the entire MNL crew was writhing around the stage half-clothed in an improv orgy.
MNL’s commitment to civic duty and social responsibility sets them apart from other local performance-based groups. Last month, the sketches focused on bi-visibility. This month, MNL had a voter registration table set up at the back of the venue.
The strongest sketches were those that brought the co-hosts together. Moorer and Storer are very comfortable with one another, and they had great rapport. Overall, the night was full of great performances.. I hope the momentum from this month’s show propels them into their final two shows of the year. Future performance dates are November 14 and December 16. Admission is $8 at the door.
Written by Christina Best
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
