Having received what we in the industry refer to as “mixed reviews,” Sitcom Theater clearly required some retooling. Don’t get me wrong–we had no problem with its Chicago debut, taking solace in the words of rock critic Ronald Thomas Clontle: Time will vindicate me. But we were uncomfortable that the cat was out of the bag, that everyone knew that Sitcom Theater = Seinfeld. So we needed to come up with a curveball for the next time it came up on the wheel. As with Seinfeld, we wanted a show we genuinely liked, without too many characters, and one that most of the audience would know too (goodbye Car 54, Where Are You?). Stretching the definition of sitcom slightly, we chose Spongebob Squarepants, and then we waited. . . . The wheel finally cooperated on February 23, 2011, in Los Angeles, of all perfect places. Living up to regional stereotypes, audience response to our performance of As Seen on TV was more, let’s say, laid back than it was for The Chinese Restaurant, perhaps pacified by the excellence of Georgia’s Squidward. By this point in the tour, we had decided to hedge our bets with a bonus mini-set of Condo Fucks material when the wheel landed on certain controversial selections, and we did a long encore that included openers the Urinals joining us for “Surfin’ with the Shah” and “Sex.” Maybe everyone didn’t go home satisfied, but nobody wrote to us to complain, which is the next best thing.
