What is there to do when your best sketch in your piece is a paid advertisement?
Thinking back on friendly fire, there is a lot to like here. The cast is likable and dynamic. The sketches are well paced and easily established.
But once again, I come back to my mixed feelings on a sketch comedy show. I recognize my bias is to a show that is consistent in tone or theme, and while this show has a focus on friendship, such a broad theme is hard to explore in a way that can make it feel coherent.
The strangest thing is the one sketch that has stayed with me was the one that perhaps seemed the most out of place. The paid advertisement (from G group) had a body snatchers feel that was absolutely hilarious.
The other sketches that stood out were the ones that followed the story of the friends visiting a cabin- in particular the one friend who wants an orgy was great and the musical numbers that bookended the entire piece.
That being said, the performers are all having fun and the show itself has some great moments- the Julie Andrews inspired number is hilarious (if hard to hear the punchlines sometimes) and the buds for hire is perhaps the most “on brand” of the sketches, but for some reason it never manages to come together in unexpected ways. The entire production is fun, but a bit formulaic to be fully memorable.