Toronto Fringe Review: Good News, Toronto

The long running live satire show Good News, Toronto has been formatted for an demand online viewing. And though it didn’t have the start I was hoping for, it does have a vibe reminiscent of SCTV’s very specific public access television aesthetic and filled with GNT’s contemporary Toronto-centric social and political jokes.

Through the intro and first segment, the pacing is uncomfortable, it’s too many one and two line jokes told in rapid succession cycling through each cast member. For another antiquated reference on my part, the first eight-ish minutes feel a bit like wandering into a Lick’s Burger (once upon a time, when they existed). For those who haven’t experienced the joy, everything is bright, frenetic and overstimulating, and it completely betrays the tasty content — or in their case, biting political commentary with a side of surreal and absurdist humour. 

Once the show reaches its stride and the wonderful weirdness is revealed, the foibles of the city are poked at with some old-fashioned dark humour and a few punches up. Single during the pandemic, horny, and forgetting how to socialize? Unable to enter the housing market AND keep all your organs? That never ending LRT construction somewhere past the St. Clair tree line? Angry at the provincial government for their lack of governance in the middle of a pandemic? Queer, racialized, or generally under represented in the mainstream and sick of vapid infotainment shows? Good news, Toronto - the cast and writers have you covered! I just wish they leaned more heavily into their quirky, and at times acerbic humour.

Given the constraints of the pandemic and the quick switch to online theatrical programming, the Good News, Toronto team did a good job. It’s a fun show over all with some belly laughs and a top notch closing monologue/rant!

Good News, Toronto is part of the Digital Toronto Fringe Festival July 21 - 31, 2021.
Find tickets and show info here.