Toronto Fringe Review: (Exploring/An In Depth Look At) A Totally Sick Online Show

Actors Lucas Carravetta and Benjamin Liddell tried to capture the times with their Digital Toronto Fringe show (Exploring/An In Depth Look At) A Totally Sick Online Show. While trying to be #totally #relevant, this sketch comedy show—between the catchy songs and great chemistry—loses itself in what it’s trying to do.

Rather than shy away from the messiness of a remote sketch show, Carravetta and Liddell lean into it. While there are sketches that make the show pop—like a fun James Corden Carpool Karaoke impression and a pop ballad about pirates—overall, it leans too heavily on parody. There’s a parody of a YouTuber, a parody podcast, parody songs, impressions; while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the repetitiveness of this makes the show predictable.

This show’s strength lies in its earnestness. While the central focus for Carravetta and Liddell is the podcast, the stronger reoccurring sketches were the pitch meetings. Between the character breaking, genuine conversations, and relationship the two performers had, it added a lot of charm. The podcast portions were reminiscent of an extra scene in a Judd Apatow movie; while sometimes funny, it’s too riffy, mostly for them, and does nothing but add to its runtime.

Carravetta and Liddell are skilled performers with some fun and unique ideas, but the execution needed more refinement. While there were too many ideas that felt listless and busy, (Exploring/An In Depth Look At) A Totally Sick Online Show, overall, stuck the landing through the chemistry between its actors.

(Exploring/An In Depth Look At) A Totally Sick Online Show is part of the Digital Toronto Fringe Festival July 21 - 31, 2021.
Find tickets and show info here.