Stage/Comedy

What: All Messed Up & Nowhere to Go
Where: The Second City, 110 Harbour St.
When: Now, until TBA
Highlight: Mainstage newcomer Scott Yamaura’s touching and hilarious take as a Tupperware lid
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should go: After some disappointing recent Second City revues, a cast refresh and solid material make this the comedy club’s best show in years.

IT WAS PROBABLY a good omen to have improv master and distinguished Second City alumnus Colin Mochrie host the opening night of the latest show because, after some dull — or worse — recent offerings from the comedy hotbed, Second City is back with its best show in years, All Messed Up & Nowhere to Go.

The show neither oversimplifies to pander to tourists nor sticks in flimsy, local content jokes that don’t draw laughs but do tick the box requiring attempts at hometown yuks. Instead, Second City has had a cast refresh with four new members, along with two returnees, each a skilled comic.

Of the three women in the cast, only excellent Second City veteran Devon Henderson is white, setting up her funny “folk song” about her being the “neglected voice” for entitled, wealthy young white girls. The voice of women is well-represented in the show, the hand of female writers insightfully apparent in much of the material including a hilarious, show-stopping celebration of menstruation, an opening night highlight masterfully and uproariously propelled by talented Second City veteran Coko Galore and newcomer Tiyawnda.

Newcomer Scott Yamamura has a clever — and even a little touching — skit as a lonely Tupperware lid that is, fortunately, reprised later in the show with equally laugh-worthy results for this smart and funny routine.

Conor Bradbury is gut-splittingly funny as a mercurial restaurant manager, and he and Christian Smith do a wildly hilarious, slapstick-powered bit of trying to load a toddler into a car that just builds and builds the laughter.

The very lampoonable TV series Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent gets a great Second City roasting without getting stuck in the local laugh trap, using the bit to launch into an improv exploration of cliches about other cities.

It’s nice to see this justifiably revered Toronto institution re-discover its comedy legs with the best cast and show in years.