Altered Boy Arguably, the eighth rite of the Catholic church is to make art about parting ways with the Catholic church. Louisiana-born comedian Garrett Allain chronicles his religious upbringing and sexual coming of age in this autobiographical one-man show in the form of a string of loosely related comedic sketches. Allain combines video segments that reimagine his school play performances, heartfelt monologues, family impersonations, and The Lonely Island-style music numbers about “GAMs” (grown-ass men) and Tinder to provide an impressionistic look at his life. His lyrical prowess outweighs his vocal ability, and only a few sketches really land, but there’s some profound insight here into the uniquely complicated relationship closeted gay Christians had with their sexuality during the height of the Catholic church’s child sex abuse scandal. Jeff Bouthiette directs. —Dan Jakes
The Customer Is Always Right? Holiday Edition Given this 40-minute offering’s semidutiful premise—a couple people tell horror stories from their days working in customer service, then a team of six improvise around those stories—it’s gratifying to see just how far off the rails these Annoyance improvisers are willing to take things. A tale of creepy solicitation at a Six Flags antique photograph emporium became a demented journey through Butterworld, a Wisconsin amusement park where Roald Dahl pitched a children’s book about a sex giant. A second saga of misguided telemarketing (trying to sell people a spare refrigerator full of meat) somehow turned into five salespeople trying to sell knife sets by pretending to be Jude Law simultaneously. Even with a few hesitant moments, the show zings along delightfully. —Justin Hayford
This Way Outta Santaland (and Other Xmas MiraclesCredit: Charles Osgood Photography
