Sex with house pets? Abortion gags? Singing genitalia? It’s all good with these two. A comic can “shit in a bag and light it on fire,” as far as Robinson is concerned, so long as it also happens to be funny.
“It’s a lot of comics doing edgier stuff than you’d normally see,” says Dinn, sharing a booth with his co-host and longtime friend in an Annex bar. “We want it to be blue, but it’s also a balancing act so that it’s fun for the comics and the audience.”
They want to stand out from the safe, more tourist-y shows at the big clubs, without falling into the unfunny pitfalls of being crude just for the sake of crude.
If the comics do that, they’re not invited back, says Robinson.
Friday (Feb. 22) marks the third Wet & Sticky (thanks to an irregular schedule it is also the one-year anniversary) and has stand-up Nikki Payne on the bill with Katie Brown, Levi MacDougall and troupes PB&J, The Gurg and Cory!, among others. In the middle of it all, Robinson and Dinn play host, aping the style of variety show hosts from the ’60s and ’70s.
“We cleanse the palate,” she says. “Does the audience want to see gross stuff for an hour and 15 minutes straight? No, they don’t. So we do our flirty, tongue in cheek bits. We come out singing with giant penis heads on.”
The first Wet & Sticky had a sort of Muppet Show feel to it — Robinson is clearly proud of the rubber foam vagina she made — while the second was more like Carol Burnett and Friends. This time around, they’re going for more of a Laugh In vibe.
So, in other words, a big wall with people popping out of doors, trading two-liners?
You’d think so, says Dinn, since Second City already has that giant wall on its stage, but they’re not allowed to use the ladders backstage. It’s an insurance thing.
Wet & Sticky: A night of crude and vulgar comedy. Feb. 22, 11pm. $11. Second City, 51 Mercer. 416-343-0011.