Woody and Mabel are awaiting the return of their prodigal sons, Noble and Bad Brad. Woody is a gambling man, and neither he nor anyone else can remember the name of the only woman on stage, as homecomings take an absurd turn in this wild pastiche of that once much sought after beast, The Great American Play. Where such epic endeavours once upon a time swaggered into view like a wounded bear, the Los Angeles-based sketch-comic quartet behind theatre company Big Tobacco are having none of it.

Like an extended improv game, the show ticks every cliché-laden box of its inspirations’ terminally dysfunctional family affairs before demolishing them with absurdist abandon. The spirit of MAD magazine and Saturday Night Live abound throughout, with Brian Fitzgerald, Lyndsey Kempf, Eli Lutsky and Brad Beideman hamming it up like billyo. Clocking in at 55 minutes, it’s mercifully shorter than any of its overbearing inspirations. If only Jack Nicholson had showed up as billed, even the audience might have been able to handle the truth. 
Bad Play, TheSpace @ Surgeons Hall, until 26 August, 7.05pm.