The Joke Show
2015 · Playhouse on the Square, Jacksonville, Illinois
It is, as Ken Bradbury cheerfully admitted, "just what it sounds like... a Joke Show." For one evening only, Bradbury assembled a New Year's Eve revue at the Playhouse on the Square in Jacksonville, "borrowing" jokes from every corner of the comic tradition: knock-knocks, lightbulb jokes, men-and-women bits, jokes about aging, religion, musicians, and the eternal guy who walks into a bar. "I'd have gotten official permission to use the material," Bradbury quipped, "but most of the authors are dead."
The show was built as a quick, warm-hearted kickoff to New Year's Eve. Staged once at 5 p.m. on December 31, it was timed so audiences could laugh for an hour, catch some supper, and still make it to their parties. The performers sat on a row of numbered stools, swapping seats between sets to Bradbury's piano, trading old chestnuts like "Knock knock — Who's there? — Interrupting cow —" and a Burns-and-Allen style "George & Grace" routine of magnificent nonsense. As Laurie McCoy confessed mid-show, the research method was simple: "We stole these jokes. Grand theft."
Part of the show's charm was its cast of familiar local faces who seldom appear onstage. Bradbury drew in Gary Scott of WLDS, former Parks and Lakes Superintendent Bruce Surratt, and "our local bread man" Jeff Westerfield, alongside theatre regulars Katie Phelps, Laurie McCoy, Stephanie Soltermann, and Rich McCoy. Surratt and Scott returned to the stage after a two-year hiatus, having last appeared in Bradbury's "A Jacksonville Christmas Carol" at Grace Methodist; Surratt, Westerfield, and Phelps were all former students of Bradbury and veterans of the Triopia stage. "It'll be nice working with some of these faces from the past," Bradbury said.
Cast
- Performer — Rich McCoy
- Performer — Laurie McCoy
- Performer — Gary Scott (WLDS)
- Performer — Bruce Surratt
- Performer — Jeff Westerfield
- Performer — Katie Phelps
- Performer — Stephanie Soltermann
- Piano — Ken Bradbury
Production Notes
- Presented once, at 5 p.m. on New Year's Eve, at the Playhouse on the Square in Jacksonville, Illinois.
- Billed as the "first annual" (and, as Richard joked onstage, possibly "the last annual") joke show at the Playhouse.
- Material was compiled from public-domain and well-worn sources across many categories: knock-knock jokes, lightbulb jokes, jokes about aging, religion, men and women, musicians, and bar jokes, plus a "George & Grace" vaudeville bit.
- Tickets were reserved through Our Town Books on the Jacksonville Square.