Summer Dad’s new sketch comedy show, 7 Questions Not to Ask over the Holidays (Directed by Matt McCready), gleefully reminds us of everything awkward, ridiculous, and just plain human about the season. In a packed hour of fresh, relatable, and often hilariously absurd sketches, this young and ambitious troupe turns holiday anxieties into comedy gold.
The premise is as simple as the title: exploring the unspoken questions and tensions that bubble beneath the surface of holiday family gatherings, parties, and gift exchanges. The tone is set perfectly in the opening sketch—a riotously uncomfortable Christmas party where the cast use a fun conceit to voice the blunt questions adults really want to ask their young adult relatives and friends that they’re seeing after a long gap . . . and the even more brutal answers those young people would like to fire back. In a diverse range of sketches on topics from gift-giving and holiday meals to family trips and holiday car rides gone wrong, Summer Dad leaves almost no holiday stone unturned here.
Summer Dad emerged from Toronto’s famed Second City Conservatory, so they bring sharp improvisational roots and a knack for clever satire. After turning heads with a Toronto Fringe Festival breakout performance Family Road Trip in 2023, they’ve continued to win accolades and churn out new shows. What strikes you first about the ensemble—featuring Chrissy Sharma, Chris Johnson, David Hudon, Kaitlyn Stollery, Kevin Forster, Rachel Powell, and Taylor Hreljac Ward – is how fresh-faced and impossibly young they seem (though they claim to be Millennials and Gen Z cuspers). The troupe share a delightful easy chemistry: onstage, this feels like a group of smart aleck friends that you might even want at your own holiday gathering (depending on your goals for the event). They radiate energy, warmth, and a sly self-awareness that balances silliness with insight. And they even keep their humor mostly clean (though not squeaky), ensuring broad appeal without losing their edge.
Not every sketch lands with the same punch—such is the nature of sketch comedy—but at their best, Summer Dad spins painful holiday truth nuggets into long-form sketches that push the humour to delightful and awkward, but never mean extremes. And the show’s highlights are memorable. A recurring gag about giving “nothing” as the perfect gift is a sneaky double-barrelled commentary on consumerism and marketing — while the deeply silly extended parody of A Christmas Carol’s iconic “Boy, what day is it?” scene builds into an absurdist, multi-target delight. A ski trip sketch effectively pokes at racial stereotypes and sensitivities, and the show includes two standout musical numbers. One provides what feels like the manically sung last word ever needed on the conflation of commercialism and Christianity; and the second is an inspired and hilarious rapping lament about the politics of holiday dinner second helpings.
At this uber-busy time of year, could you use an hour to decompress and just . . . laugh? If you’re leaning that way, Summer Dad’s 7 Questions Not to Ask over the Holidays is a fun, fast-paced feast of foibles and follies served up by an ambitious, hungry, holiday-hip young sketch troupe. You’ve got two more opportunities to check it out this week: December 17 and 19, 7:00 pm at The Assembly Theatre. Reserve tickets on eventbrite.ca.
© Scott Sneddon, Sesaya Arts Magazine, 2024
