It’s gratifying to see the remaining two female performers of the mainstage gang get a chance to show off in Second City’s latest revue. Not that Karen Parker and Leslie Seiler didn’t have their fair share of moments in Tazed and Confused or Facebook of Revelations — but they have more scenes to call their own, backed up with bits both slapstick and clever, in Barack to the Future.

Ferociously dry-humping the backdrop during a hot and bothered therapy session in one scene, for instance, or rooting through garbage in a well-crafted and all but wordless bit about two enterprising raccoons that is sure to click with anyone who lives in the city and is responsible for putting out garbage.

The new revue has more high-energy, physical laughs (watch for the bullet-timed, techno trippy “Motherfuckin’ ping-pong”) and less regard for the fourth wall than recent Second City outings, which could be chalked up to the addition of improviser and Slap Happy vet Kerry Griffin, who has joined the cast along with Reid Janisse.

Often the straight man, Griffin plays host during an awards show scene that sees Seiler and Marty Adams repeatedly and enjoyably bumble their way through the crowd while another, set in an employment agency, falls back on that old chestnut of unlikely jobs (“Stripper! Lawn gnome!”) shouted out by the audience.

That last one also has the very big Adams playing against type as an 18-inch tall and crankily unemployed little person, a kind-hearted but nonetheless funny tip of the hat to his old Humber college buddy and area comic Andre Arruda.


Best bets:
The Toronto Improv Festival returns next week at Bad Dog Theater and Comedy Bar, bringing in troupes including Boston-area long-formers Dos Personas and The Comedy Project from Idaho. Aug 11-17. Prices and showtimes vary.

Vaudeville refugees Parker and Seville are at The Supermarket on Aug 11 with their latest, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, joined by Alana Johnson and Anne Vadas. Aug 11. 8:30pm. Five cents. (Seriously, just five cents.) 268 Augusta.