How Time Flies

What two frank 19th-century English comics think of Philadelphians.

by Julia West

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Published: Jan 5, 2010

Jessica Kourkounis STRESS TEST: "I know I'm going to have a good show," says comedian Kelly Jennings (pictured, right, with Karen Getz), "if I'm backstage, sick to my stomach, before it starts."

If two loudmouthed Victorian women were plucked from their 19th-century England estates and dropped into 2010 America, they'd likely have plenty to say. How would they feel about the way women dress — scandalous ankles exposed and all? How long would it take for them to master an iPod? And where the bloody hell is the queen?

Karen Getz and Kelly Jennings (pictured, L-R), two cerebral improvisers who’ve performed together in the Philly Fringe Festival and ComedySportz, will don their bustle dresses and parasols for Cecily and Gwendolyn’s Fantastical Balloon Ride, a comedy act that asks what a difference 175 years makes.

Getz and Jennings say that Cecily and Gwendolyn builds on their improv backgrounds and also relies heavily on the interactions between audience members and zany Victorians. But how much? “I’d say about 93 percent,” says Getz. “But don’t let that scare you. We won’t pull you on stage and saw you in half or anything.”

“It’s not like we’re Gallagher,” says Jennings.

Regardless, they will comment on just about everything the crowd says and does. “The audience is a funland in a culture we’ve never seen before,” says Getz, “and we’re going to say exactly what we think about them.”

Relying on strangers to put the oomph in their show may, at best, be dangerously trusting — or, at worst, blindly foolish — but Getz and Jennings insist they want a touch of both in their work. “I know I’m going to have a good show,” says Jennings, who’s been doing improv for years, “if I’m backstage, sick to my stomach, before it starts.”

“I wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t scary and challenging,” agrees Getz.

To add even more pressure, this will be the first major production by Philadelphia Joke Initiative, an organization that Alexis Simpson, Kate Sabato and Mary Carpenter founded last August to help local comedy talent thrive — and get paid.

“My experience is that many performers are donating their time, and that really sucks,” says Simpson. “It never hurts to have one more company out there that wants to write paychecks.”

PJI has already produced a handful of single-night shows, including a musical comedy by the Hopper Brothers and The Mike Connor Travelogues at Connie’s Ric Rac. Beginning in late January, it’ll be hosting a once-monthly comedy open mic at Fergie’s Pub.

Simpson doesn’t want PJI to stop at improv, though. She’d like to produce sketch shows and traditional theater, too. That makes Cecily and Gwendolyn her ideal inaugural production of this scale.

Everything in the act may be improvised, but Cecily and Gwendolyn’s characters have been developed over three years, and have appeared in everything from Philadelphia Theatre Co. plays to YouTube videos. “[Getz and Jennings] bridge the gap between the audiences of traditional and improv theater,” says Simpson, “because their characters have taken on a life outside the show.”

(julia.west@citypaper.net)

Jan. 13-31, $10-$20, The Latvian Society, 531 N. Seventh St., 215-922-9798, contactpji.com.

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