Reviews for "A Show of Hands" that just wrapped up at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival

★★★★★ "This is about as good as comedy gets" -CBC ★★★★ "An imaginative triumph... there’s no show of hands needed here: Winnipeg votes to export these guys to the comedy big leagues." - Winnipeg Free Press ★★★★★ "Their uproarious physical comedy, flawless timing and cleverly written subject matter are utterly bang-on, and the laughs come just as easily as does the craving to see their shows again and again." - Uptown Magazine ★★★★★ "A Show of Hands is an hour of pure fun and non-stop, highly energetic entertainment...I laughed until I cried and left the theatre converted into a reverent fan" - Examiner.com

 

Here's what people are saying about Hot Thespian Action:

“The performances across the board are virtually pitch-perfect, and the troupe’s sense of sketch comedy structure and pacing is extremely strong... It’s almost depressing how good they are so young.” – Dean Jenkinson, Writer: This Hour Has 22 Minutes, CBC.

“The local quintet of Shannon Guile, Jacqueline Loewen, Garth Merkeley, Ryan Miller and Jane Testar unfailingly produces wildly entertaining sketch comedy that gives the genre a good name. It’s not just the uniformly adroit performances — beautifully timed, with a physicality that can be graceful or goofy as required — but the bizarre, brilliant territory this troupe’s fevered collective brain explores.... Somebody give these folks a TV show. - Jill Wilson, Winnipeg Free Press.

"This is about as good as comedy gets, at the Fringe or anywhere else: writing that's accessible without sacrificing any of its edge, performers whose variety of skills is just as impressive as the depth of their talents, and a pace that never lags. HTA bring laugh after laugh until the show ends, leaving you wanting more." - Kelly Stifora, CBC

"Their uproarious physical comedy, flawless timing and cleverly written subject matter are utterly bang-on, and the laughs come just as easily as does the craving to see their shows again and again." - Julijana Capone, Uptown Magazine.

"A full house on opening night for these well-loved sketch-comedy locals, and a deserved standing ovation at the end: this is some red-hot thespianism all right... Hot Thespian Action will put you in stitches." -Melissa Martin, Winnipeg Free Press

Full Reviews

5 Star Review for A Show of Hands from CBC

Do yourself a favour and get some Hot Thespian Action at this year's Fringe - you won't regret it. In fact, there couldn't be a better time. For A Show of Hands, these five immensely talented sketch comics held a vote on their website to find the most popular sketches from four years worth of Fringe funny making. The result is an hour of top-notch comedy presented by a group of players who seem capable of almost anything. Dressed in black and aided by only a few mime boxes, Garth, Jacqueline, Jane, Ryan and Shannon prove that all you need to put on a first rate Fringe show is an audience and a whole bunch of creativity. This is about as good as comedy gets, at the Fringe or anywhere else: writing that's accessible without sacrificing any of its edge, performers whose variety of skills is just as impressive as the depth of their talents, and a pace that never lags. HTA bring laugh after laugh until the show ends, leaving you wanting more. Apparently, HTA are working on a T.V. pilot - don't miss your chance to be able to say "I saw them when..."

FIVE STARS - Kelly Stifora, CBC

5 Star Review for A Show of Hands from Uptown Magazine

If you’ve ever seen Hot Thespian Action perform before, you’ll know the comedy sketch troupe has quite the cache of sidesplitting skits to pull from. For A Show of Hands, the fivesome draws from the best sketches of the past few years as voted by fans. From singsong numbers about planned parenting and gay best friends to a fantastically choreographed duel over a dinner cheque and robotic F-bomb-dropping single girlfriends out on the town in the fall-down-hilarious Good Time Girls. Their uproarious physical comedy, flawless timing and cleverly written subject matter are utterly bang-on, and the laughs come just as easily as does the craving to see their shows again and again. With a TV pilot project in the works, I suspect the future for these comic whiz kids is about to get a whole lot brighter. No one tops this band of locals at the Fringe.

FIVE STARS - Julijana Capone, Uptown Magazine

5 Star Review for Hands Off in the Winnipeg Free Press

According to the old Saturday Night Live template, men tend to dominate in a sketch comedy troupe.

No such dynamic exists among the five members of Winnipeg's own Hot Thespian Action. The three women in the troupe, Shannon Guile, Jacqueline Loewen and Jane Testar, not only outnumber their two male partners (Garth Merkeley and Ryan Miller), they're more physical and bolder in their comedy contributions, especially in sketches that include a mime throwdown, a robotic girls' night out, a glimpse into the tragic downward spiral of air freshener addiction, and a flat-out hilarious staging of The Miracle of Birth. But there are no weak links in the troupe and everyone gets a chance to shine, whether it's Miller's interpretation of a young/old dog, or Testar's choice of a heartfelt, folkie interpretation to ask the musical question: Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me?

If you've blundered into a lot of bad comedy at the Fringe, Hands Off feels -- contrary to its title -- as reviving as a high-end spa treatment administered by caring professionals who know how to rub you the right way.

FIVE STARS -Randall King, Winnipeg Free Press

5 Star Review for Hands Down in the Winnipeg Sun

Passive-aggressive women going at it battle-royale style, gay BFFs providing social life-saving advice, bizarre tropical birds looking for mates — the witty wisecrackers of Hot Thespian Action are all over the map in Hands Down.

The local sketch comics — Shannon Guile, Jacqueline Loewen, Garth Merkeley, Ryan Miller and Jane Testar — have concocted an odd and hugely entertaining mixture of skits for their latest Fringe effort. Among the highlights: A couple's silent brawl for the restaurant tab, twisted game show The Price is So Wrong and a song that ponders what would have happened if Shakespeare's tragic heroes had just talked to their women before pulling their daggers (duh!).

Each Hot Thespian brings something to the table — most memorably Miller, for his gawky bird impression, and Testar, a master of facial expressions — and every thoughtfully penned sketch keeps the laughs flowing so consistently throughout the hour that it's a shame it has to end.

FIVE STARS - Lindsey Ward, Winnipeg Sun

Grade "A" Review for Hands Down in Uptown Magazine

Side-splitting, snappy and sassy, Hot Thespian Action is hands down (yeah, I said it) the best sketch comedy troupe in Winnipeg, a point proven in its latest Fringe Fest production. Let's start with the straight-up silly stuff: In the scene Paradise Lost, Ryan Miller plays a peacock pursuing a partner with an absolutely priceless prance. In Torture the troupe takes on those who can't tell between "there", "their" and "they're." All is not just harmless hilarity, though. In Hands Down, the Hot Thespians take on political correctness, paranoid parents and passive aggressive behaviour. And they do it all very quickly. The scenes are short, never overstaying their welcome. Self-editing is a concept lost on many a sketch troupe (just watch SNL), but Hot Thespian Action has polished its parody to perfection.

A - Jared Story, Uptown Magazine