As with any pandemic-burdened year, I didn’t get to go to as many events in 2022 as I would’ve preferred… but that meant that the ones I did go to were all the more special, because I was much more selective about events I considered worth attending. Here are 4 of the most memorable and remarkable events I went to this year.
Once upon a time, there was an improv show called ASSSSCAT. It began in the 1990s and featured an all-star team of improvisors, including Amy Poehler (pre-SNL fame). The format was simple: a guest monologist, usually a professionally funny person like a TV writer or a character actor, tells an off-the-cuff, true story from their life inspired by an audience suggestion, and then a cast of improvisors does a longform improv set based on that story. This continued for over 20 years; the cast and crew shifted over time, but the core of the show – and its rabid audience – stayed consistent.
When the theatre at which ASSSSCAT was performed, the UCB NYC, had to shut down during the pandemic, the cast wasn’t ready to say goodbye. And so Raaaatscraps was born: the spiritual sequel to ASSSSCAT, transported to a different venue (Caveat, a cabaret/comedy theatre in the East Village) and performed every Sunday night.
My now-spouse took me to an ASSSSCAT show on our 2nd date, way back in January 2018, and it was one of the many things that made me fall in love with them. I’d grown up watching and doing a lot of improv, and still to this day it’s one of my favorite art forms; it fascinates me and informs my worldview and even my spirituality. So it felt refreshing and affirming to have a partner who understood that on a deep level and felt that way about it too.
Ever since Raaaatscraps started up, I’ve gone in-person whenever possible, but mostly have watched it via livestream every week, since I’m not usually in New York. It’s cute to see my spouse sitting in the front row while I’m watching from my apartment in Toronto, especially when we laugh at all the same jokes! The rotating cast is wildly talented and their improv is frequently incisive, absurdist, thought-provoking – and always hilarious. Some people go to church on Sundays; I go to Raaaatscraps, and I’m a better person for it. I don’t know how else to describe it except that you should watch it!
Jes Tom + Tessa Skara Present: Corporate Pride
Pandemic notwithstanding, it’s been several years since I had the energy and inclination to actually attend Pride events. They used to be a vital annual way that I reconnected with my local queer community as a whole and felt a sense of belonging that everyday life didn’t always allow for – but somehow that fell by the wayside, maybe after I fainted from overheating in a throng of people in the gayborhood one year, or maybe after I kept running into exes and then literally running away from them, who knows.
Anyway, it was healing and lovely to attend an actual Pride event this year, albeit not an “official” one. This comedy show’s bill was packed full of queer and trans comedians, telling jokes, performing songs, improvising and dancing. My partner and I sat in the front row and roared with laughter all night long, discovering many new fave performers along the way. We had fake cash shot at us from a money gun, applauded one performer as they announced their new-ish pronouns, laughed and cried and celebrated. It was exactly the queer communion I needed.
Into the Woods on Broadway
Into the Woods has been my favorite musical since I was a kid, when my mom or my aunt (not sure which) showed me a fuzzy pro-shot VHS of the original cast performing the show. Over the years, I’ve seen it wherever I could, and have always found it interesting to see how different theatre companies handle it. It’s a story that intertwines several classic fairy tales – Jack & the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, etc. – and like those tales, Into the Woods itself can be interpreted and reinterpreted in countless different ways.
My partner was able to score us a couple of tickets for the current Broadway production, and I loved it. Of particular note to me was Gavin Creel as Cinderella’s Prince (he is hilarious), Cole Thompson as Jack (incredibly moving), and Kennedy Kanagawa puppeteering Jack’s cow, Milky White, in a way that felt mournful and touching. It’s wild to see a show you know like the back of your hand, presented in a way that feels both classic and respectful to the text, and new and fresh, all at the same time.
It was also very emotional for me to see a Stephen Sondheim show relatively soon after his death in November 2021. He was one of the great geniuses of our time and I’m so glad I got to live at the same time as him for a while, as cheesy as that may sound.
I’ve been invited to a lot of press events in my time and many of them have been somewhat uninspired, if nonetheless luxurious: an open bar, a goodie bag, a brief talk from the company’s education rep, and that’s it. But the Lovehoney press dinner I was invited to in October was quite different.
In addition to letting us take whatever products we wanted from their current lineup and providing education about those products, the company had also put together a menu of custom cocktails, served oysters on ice, and – most incredibly of all – hired the chef and team at Patois to serve us an 8-course meal inspired by sexuality and sensuality. The whole affair made me feel very fancy and respected as a journalist, and I also got to chat with lots of fascinating folks from my industry, something I don’t often get a chance to do.
I went home in an Uber paid for by the company, carrying a huge bag of sex toys and a takeout box of beef brisket, rice and peas cooked in delicious spices. There are times when my job feels grueling and thankless – like when I’m hunched over a Google Doc, enumerating the virtues of clitoral vibrators for the 8th time that week – but then I’m invited to events like this, and I remember how glamorous my line of work actually is, and how grateful I feel to be in it.
What were your favorite events – online or off – that you attended this year?