By Rikki Lee Travolta
There have been some great comedy duos throughout history. You have the classics like Laurel and Hardy. You have your specialty acts like stoners Cheech and Chong. And, you have ambassadors of female wit like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
When it comes to great comedy, there’s always room for one more act. Such is the case with Jaffe and Magy. This delightful comedy duo is comprised of Rebecca Jaffe and Hannah Magy who are now presenting the hysterical original comedy “Low Standards” at The Annoyance Theatre in Chicago.
Dating back to its groundbreaking, cult-classic comedy “Co-ed Prison Sluts”, The Annoyance Theatre has been a dominant force in Chicago comedy. It also serves as an incubator for rising talents, giving them a platform from which to develop their material. When ready, the venue is the perfect home to display those new works.
“Low Standards” is sketch comedy at its best. The two stars are bubbly, expressive, and downright hysterical.
The show starts off with a choreographed number to a song that could have come from an 80s sitcom like “The Facts of Life” and “Growing Pains”. But what lurks beneath is far funnier than any television comedy.
The song is camouflaged as a feel-good, peppy number – but as it is revisited throughout the show, there are laughs galore as Jaffe and Magy realize they have heard the song quite enough for one evening. It’s a sign of great comic timing and knowing exactly how long to milk a joke.
The show runs about an hour and leaves you little time to recover from one laugh attack until smashing you with something even funnier to laugh about. It’s ideal sketch comedy – quick scenes that are just long enough to squeeze in as many jokes as possible before rolling on to the next bit.
Among the highlights of “Low Standards” is a skit about baristas. As Magy the customer tries repeatedly to order a simple drink, Jaffe the barista is too engrossed in the importance of her work to give her customer the time of day. And that engrossment in her work takes the form of hyperactive drink preparations that get funnier and funnier.
Jaffe’s manic movements as the self-important barista are indicative of the duo’s embrace of the physical element of their comedy. While their jokes would be funny in vocal delivery, the performers add the details that take their routine to the next level of excellence.
In another great bit, Jaffe and Magy play two armadillos – complete with very funny armadillo hands. As the two animals bicker about criminal acts as if they were human like tax evasion and family matters, the interplay just kills the audience. For all intents and purposes, it is an Armadillo Soap Opera, a true combination of National Geographic and “All My Children.”
In what might be the best routine of the evening, Magy and Jaffe play two folk singers who take themselves a little too seriously. As they break into a song about pee pee and poo poo, the duo are in disbelief that the seriousness of their song is lost on the audience. They seem entirely bewildered how a song about childish terms for bodily functions might not be construed as the most meaningful song ever written. It is hysterical.
If the folk singers aren’t the highlight of the evening, then it has to be Jaffe and Magy presenting contrasting shopping experiences for women’s leggings. Wherein Magy offers all the stereotypical mall store upsells of a rather generic product, Jaffe is the queen of goth and doom as she does the worst sales job in history.
Rebecca Jaffe and Hannah Magy met while attending Millikan University studying musical theatre. The performers reconnected in 2022 at Second City’s Comedy Studies Summer Program and decided to hitch their wagons together as Jaffe and Magy.
As a comedian and songwriter, Jaffe has been seen at the St. Louis Pageant, Zanies, Helium STL, and Flyover Comedy Festival. Magy is an actor, writer, and burlesque artist whose credits include work with iO Theatre’s improv team Kismet and serving as an understudy for Second City’s “Oh The Places You’ll Glow” – a great improv production also recently reviewed by Life and Times.
“Low Standards” is directed by Anna Weatherwax, who wowed audiences at The Annoyance with her own original sketch comedy “LIGHTS” with Traer Schon (read the review). Her other directing credits include the Annoyance hit “I Saw Bigfoot.” She is a graduate of both the Annoyance Theatre Program and the Second City Conservatory Program.
The Annoyance Theatre has produced over 250 shows, ranging from sketch comedy shows to full-length musicals and plays. “Splatter Theater” remains an annual favorite at Annoyance, while the long-running “Hitch* Cocktails” – which combines drinking with improvised comedy to tell Hitchcock-style tales – can be described as one of the funniest things you can experience in late-night Chicago theatre.
“Low Standards” has the potential to be another big hit for the Annoyance Theatre. The stars are both incredibly charming and expressive, resulting in damn funny comedy. They are having fun doing what they love to do, and it shows. And that makes the audience want to go on this ride with them, and what a fantastic ride “Low Standards” is.
The show closes with a number by Kevin Kuska, a talented Chicago artist who has appeared at Chicago’s Palace Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Drury Lane Theatre, and Paramount Theater. Between songs by Jaffe throughout the show and the closing number by Kuska, even the music of “Low Standards” is a delight.
“Low Standards” plays on Wednesdays at 8 PM at The Annoyance Theatre & Bar through February 28. It is a killer comedy you won’t want to miss.
For more information and to order tickets visit: https://www.theannoyance.com/show/jaffe-and-magy-present%3A-low-standards
Photo credit: Cooper Nolan (Instagram: @nalonrepooc)
For more reviews visit: Theatre in Chicago – your source for What’s on Stage in the Chicago Area.
Dating back to its groundbreaking, cult-classic comedy “Co-ed Prison Sluts”, The Annoyance Theatre has been a dominant force in Chicago comedy. It also serves as an incubator for rising talents, giving them a platform from which to develop their material. When ready, the venue is the perfect home to display those new works.
“Low Standards” is sketch comedy at its best. The two stars are bubbly, expressive, and downright hysterical.
The show starts off with a choreographed number to a song that could have come from an 80s sitcom like “The Facts of Life” and “Growing Pains”. But what lurks beneath is far funnier than any television comedy.
The song is camouflaged as a feel-good, peppy number – but as it is revisited throughout the show, there are laughs galore as Jaffe and Magy realize they have heard the song quite enough for one evening. It’s a sign of great comic timing and knowing exactly how long to milk a joke.
The show runs about an hour and leaves you little time to recover from one laugh attack until smashing you with something even funnier to laugh about. It’s ideal sketch comedy – quick scenes that are just long enough to squeeze in as many jokes as possible before rolling on to the next bit.
Among the highlights of “Low Standards” is a skit about baristas. As Magy the customer tries repeatedly to order a simple drink, Jaffe the barista is too engrossed in the importance of her work to give her customer the time of day. And that engrossment in her work takes the form of hyperactive drink preparations that get funnier and funnier.
Jaffe’s manic movements as the self-important barista are indicative of the duo’s embrace of the physical element of their comedy. While their jokes would be funny in vocal delivery, the performers add the details that take their routine to the next level of excellence.
In another great bit, Jaffe and Magy play two armadillos – complete with very funny armadillo hands. As the two animals bicker about criminal acts as if they were human like tax evasion and family matters, the interplay just kills the audience. For all intents and purposes, it is an Armadillo Soap Opera, a true combination of National Geographic and “All My Children.”
In what might be the best routine of the evening, Magy and Jaffe play two folk singers who take themselves a little too seriously. As they break into a song about pee pee and poo poo, the duo are in disbelief that the seriousness of their song is lost on the audience. They seem entirely bewildered how a song about childish terms for bodily functions might not be construed as the most meaningful song ever written. It is hysterical.
If the folk singers aren’t the highlight of the evening, then it has to be Jaffe and Magy presenting contrasting shopping experiences for women’s leggings. Wherein Magy offers all the stereotypical mall store upsells of a rather generic product, Jaffe is the queen of goth and doom as she does the worst sales job in history.
Rebecca Jaffe and Hannah Magy met while attending Millikan University studying musical theatre. The performers reconnected in 2022 at Second City’s Comedy Studies Summer Program and decided to hitch their wagons together as Jaffe and Magy.
As a comedian and songwriter, Jaffe has been seen at the St. Louis Pageant, Zanies, Helium STL, and Flyover Comedy Festival. Magy is an actor, writer, and burlesque artist whose credits include work with iO Theatre’s improv team Kismet and serving as an understudy for Second City’s “Oh The Places You’ll Glow” – a great improv production also recently reviewed by Life and Times.
“Low Standards” is directed by Anna Weatherwax, who wowed audiences at The Annoyance with her own original sketch comedy “LIGHTS” with Traer Schon (read the review). Her other directing credits include the Annoyance hit “I Saw Bigfoot.” She is a graduate of both the Annoyance Theatre Program and the Second City Conservatory Program.
The Annoyance Theatre has produced over 250 shows, ranging from sketch comedy shows to full-length musicals and plays. “Splatter Theater” remains an annual favorite at Annoyance, while the long-running “Hitch* Cocktails” – which combines drinking with improvised comedy to tell Hitchcock-style tales – can be described as one of the funniest things you can experience in late-night Chicago theatre.
“Low Standards” has the potential to be another big hit for the Annoyance Theatre. The stars are both incredibly charming and expressive, resulting in damn funny comedy. They are having fun doing what they love to do, and it shows. And that makes the audience want to go on this ride with them, and what a fantastic ride “Low Standards” is.
The show closes with a number by Kevin Kuska, a talented Chicago artist who has appeared at Chicago’s Palace Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Drury Lane Theatre, and Paramount Theater. Between songs by Jaffe throughout the show and the closing number by Kuska, even the music of “Low Standards” is a delight.
“Low Standards” plays on Wednesdays at 8 PM at The Annoyance Theatre & Bar through February 28. It is a killer comedy you won’t want to miss.
For more information and to order tickets visit: https://www.theannoyance.com/show/jaffe-and-magy-present%3A-low-standards
Photo credit: Cooper Nolan (Instagram: @nalonrepooc)
For more reviews visit: Theatre in Chicago – your source for What’s on Stage in the Chicago Area.
