The middle years are rife with comedic potential. 

“The stresses of raising children at the same time as taking care of aging parents, the incredible complexity of trying to keep your adult sex life interesting at the same time as your joints are making popping and cracking sounds.

“We’re being forced to experience it in real life so we thought, why not turn these horrors into a hilarious show?” asks  Geri Hall.

Though both spent years writing and performing comedy for film and television, they were eager to return to the stage. 

“Gary and I have been in show business for multiple decades. We suddenly realized that we desperately wanted to go back to sketch comedy,” Ms. Hall noted.

Middle Raged premiered in 2019 with a run in Oakville and the Toronto and Edmonton Fringe Festivals. Though the pandemic halted some performances, they have since toured across the country. Their stop in Picton will be the 90th performance. 

The format is similar to a Second City show, with sketches, musical parodies, improv, and surprises. 

“One of the main things people say, aside from being funny, is that it’s very relatable,” notes Gary Pearson.

“Time and time again Gary and I meet people after the show who say ‘my gosh, you’re reading my diaries, this is my life on stage’,” Ms. Hall adds.

“We send up the visits to Costco, child rearing, keeping things sexy in the bedroom with awkward role play,” said Ms. Hall.

Some of the more difficult aspects of getting older, like the increasing prevalence of debts and death, are also good material.

“It’s the moment of life when you’re going to more funerals than weddings,” notes Ms. Hall.

“You better enjoy the sandwich tray at the funeral, because it’s the only party you’re going to get invited to anymore.”

Playing a married couple in many of the sketches, Ms. Hall and Mr. Pearson also explore gender dynamics in long-term relationships. While the coming-of-age story has long dominated the zeitgeist, Middle Raged premiered ahead of a shift toward mid-life stories. 

Miranda July’s midlife crisis novel All Fours, CBC’s menopause comedy Small Achievable Goals, and Friendship, a movie about mid-life male loneliness starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, all suggest that 50 is the new 15. 

“I like to think we started the trend,” Ms. Hall deadpans.  

Catch Middle Raged at Picton’s Regent Theatre July 26th at 7:30pm.