'Would You Rather?' Puts Vermont Comics in the Hot Seat
Nov 06, 2024
We all played the game when we were kids. You know, sitting around, bored out of your young minds, you and your friends start trying gross each other out: Would you rather jump into a vat of snakes or eat live bugs? Would you rather accidentally like a photo of your ex on social media or accidentally send a sext to your mother? Would you rather not be able to lie or believe everything you're told? The more ridiculous the question, the more you stood to learn about each other — for better or worse. Comedians Maggie Maxwell and Andre Medrano have kept that morbid childhood curiosity alive in their comedy show "Would You Rather?" Their adult version of the game puts a panel of comics in the hot seat. The hosts fire off an onslaught of ludicrous situations, and the comics are forced to make a decision, no matter how unpleasant. It's a way of taking naturally funny people and forcing them into a corner. How does one defend the choice to piss your pants in public once a week, as opposed to privately pooping in them daily? The questions serve as jumping-off points for comics well versed in improv. Maxwell and Medrano launched the series in New York City in 2017, and the monthly event swiftly became a staple on the Big Apple's comedy scene — it was even shouted out by the New York Times. They tour the show around six times a year, often playing comedy festivals in cities such as Chicago and San Francisco. But on Friday, November 15, "Would You Rather?" hits Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington. "It came from a place of two idiots riffing, but we wanted our idiotic riffing to be original," Maxwell explained. "It's also like speed dating in this very poly sort of way, because you and the audience get to very quickly know the comedians in really intimate and often hilarious ways." By posing dilemmas such as "Would you rather break all of your promises or share all of your secrets?" and "Would you rather suffer from acute FOMO or definitely find out that ... YOLO?," the cohosts force the comics to work without a safety net. Rather than written jokes, everything is off the cuff. "The cornerstone of the show is that you can't really make an ideal pick," Medrano said. "Sometimes that can frustrate the…