The Cody Rivers Show, a two-person performance group from the Seattle area, is — skipping past all the obligatory qualifying and prefacing that must accompany these sorts of grandiose announcements — the most amazing sketch group I have ever seen.
They’re a two-person group from outside the Seattle area who happens to be at the UCB Theater in New York Monday and Wednesday of this week, and, while I cannot hope to explain what they do or specifiy my gushing praises, I simply must straight up say that if you only listen to one recommendation that I ever make in the lifespan of this blog, for serious, go see the Cody Rivers Show if they come to where you live.
This isn’t a slight to the hundred other sketch groups I’ve watched (and performed in); there are tons of awesome groups out there who put on fantastic, hilarious shows, but Cody Rivers transcends standard sketch comedy without the alt-comedy self-consciousness that usually accompanies anything that supposes to “transcend” a form of comedy. The bits are just impeccably rehearsed and as physically impressive as they are funny, they’re engaging, they’re beyond creative, and they really are something you’ve never seen before without constantly reminding you that it’s something you’ve never seen before.
Alright, never mind, I said I wasn’t gonna try to explain it, and I already f*cked up. Just see the show. Seriously.
(If you’re in New York, tonight is also Brooklyn Vegan’s Rock n’ ROFL at Pianos at 9:00, featuring John Mulaney and Max Silvestri — it’s already shaping up to be a good week for humankind…)
