By SHARON EBERSON
The holiday season jolted into jolly mode this weekend, with comedy taking over stages throughout the area.
In the Pittsburgh Cultural District, Yippee Ki Yay, the Pittsburgh CLO-presented Die Hard parody, at the Greer Cabaret, and Pittsburgh Public Theater’s annual A Christmas Carol – and, outside of the Downtown limits, two returnees to the theater scene.
In Braddock, the 13th season of Midnight Radio has Bricolage Productions following it’s own Die Hard holiday parody with A Christmas Vacatyinz, lampooning the Lampooners at barebones’ Braddock Black Box. And in the Hill District, you can find the sketch comedy group Mr. Goodbird USA — once a monthly staple at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company’s original Penn Avenue venue in Garfield — back in action with The Chuck Dickens Annual Christmas and/or Holiday Spectacular!
MIDNIGHT RADIO: A CHRISTMAS VACATYINZ IN BRADDOCK
“I don’t know what to say except, it’s Christmas, and we’re all in misery!” – Ellen in National Lampoon’s A Christmas Vacation, and Ellen in Midnight Radio: A Christmas Vacatyinz.
An Ellen by any other surname (use your R-rated imagination) utters those words in A Christmas Vacatyinz, with misery magnified by her husband Clark’s obsession with an old-fashioned family Christmas, and the forces that align to destroy his dreams at every turn.
Confession: I know of the Chevy Chase movie only through osmosis, yet I was familiar with most of the parodied elements in Bricolage’s latest edition of Midnight Radio. In my defense, I can only say that my personal tastes are predisposed to lean heavily toward appreciation for a live show, especially one featuring a (fictional) family from Greenfield.
The show features barebones leader Patrick Jordan and Tami Dixon (Bricolage co-artistic director and adapter) as Clark and Ellen. Dixon, Jason McCune, Jaime Slavinsky and David Mansueto play multiple roles, with everyone contributing sound effects, within the framework of an old-timey radio show. That includes commercials for the likes of a product that, um, perks up wilted lettuce. If your mind went to the gutter there, then you’ve gone somewhere the comedy goes as well.
McCune, a frequent Midnight Radio performer, has a voice that exudes announcer vibes, but he also has a range from teen to geezer. Likewise the vocally dexterous Slavinsky, showing off comic chops, and Mansueto, featuring full-on Randy Quaid crazy mode as Eddie, with pinpoint timing. Among Dixon’s many characters, she is a wonderfully daffy Aunt Bethany, who recites the Pledge of Allegiance when asked to say Grace.
Jordan’s Clark is at the center of the turmoil, often of his own creation. My hope is that a long rest of his vocal chords awaits Jordan, with Midnight Radio following so soon after barebones’ God of Carnage. I laughed aloud when Clark let out his frustrations in a tirade against his cheap boss, and meltdown included some of my favorite King Lear put-downs.
During his quieter moments, we have hints that love, Pittsburgh style, will conquer all. He may be having a miserable Christmas, when the tree is too big for the house, his holiday bonus hasn’t shown up but his wacky relatives, but he’s been in love since meeting Ellen at “that spaghetti social down in Blawnox.”
Midnight Radio: A Christmas Vacatyinz will be “On Air” at the Braddock Black Box Theater’s decked out Bingo O’Malley stage, 1211 Braddock Ave., Braddock, Wednesdays-Sundays through December 21, 2025. “The show is rated PG-13 for blue humor and sexual innuendo.” For tickets and details, visit https://www.bricolagepgh.org/midnight-radio/live/christmas-vacatyinz/.
CHUCK DICKENS CHRISTMAS AND/OR HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR!
Political correctness is on the naughty list for the return of “Mr. Goodbird presents …,” with sketches, music and mania, and a camel that looks a lot like a horse used in a Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre play.
Corey Rieger weaves through the action as “Chuck” – Charles Dickens’ ghost, with the master novelist having chosen a Texas twang and cowboy hat for his afterlife persona. Rieger also teams with his “White Meat” band partner Sean Donaldson on a couple of duets that take aim at holiday stereotypes.
Nothing is sacred, and that’s the point.
Sketches span the birth of baby Jesus and the choice of gifts from the Three Wise Men, to modern-day celebrity cancellations (National Lampoon’s A Christmas Vacation and its star are among those in the crosshairs). The trend toward movie sing-alongs is lampooned with a tune over projected scenes from Glengarry Glen Ross.
Fake commercial interludes by a fake sponsor were courtesy of Brett Goodnack, a staple of Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s Evil Dead musicals, with a smarmy charm, a name you might not say in mixed company, and a (fake) Pittsburgh business made for double entendres.
The shows feature projections and special guests, and the cast may vary from listed regulars, including Eric Donaldson, Matt Henderson, Wali Jamal, Jenny Malarkey, Adam Richardson, and Alex Stypula.
If you like your comedy a little rough around the edges, with no holds barred, Chuck Dickens has two more dates, December 12 and 13, at 8:30 p.m. at the Madison Arts Center, Carter Redwood Theater, 3401 Milwaukee St., Upper Hill. Ages 18+ only. For tickets, visit: https://www.pghplaywrights.org/season-info/goodbird/.
NOTE: Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company’s premiere of A Dinah Was Christmas, in the Madison Arts Center’s cabaret space, overlaps Chuck Dickens by a day, with two shows, at 2 and 8 p.m., on Saturday, December 13. Opening night on December 11 is sold out. For more on Delana Flowers’ return as Dinah Washington, visit https://www.pghplaywrights.org/season-info/dinah-xmas/.
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