Review: Does This Review Describe You? If So, You’ll Want to See It’s Hard to Be Hot at Second City

You’re in your mid-twenties, not a true Millennial or a true Zoomer. All of your dates start on Hinge, and your dog’s anxiety medication costs twice as much as yours does. Thankfully, now there’s a Second City sketch show from people who understand how that feels! It’s Hard to be Hot (or IH2BH for short).

Starring Erin Ryan and Olivia Tennison, IH2BH is an hourlong riot that will make you laugh, cry (from laughter), and may also teach you a couple things that you might have been better off not knowing. There’s a delightfully manic feeling to the whole performance: Erin and Olivia have such great chemistry on stage, and both feel at home playing the straight talker or a talking tampon.

Speaking of talking tampons, it’s a good thing this performance is rated R. You’ll explore the dangers of having text-to-speech read your boyfriend’s saucy-and *very* specific-text messages out loud, experience the hardship of being the maid of honor, and learn about the newest dating app that’s all about YOU. There’s such variety to the set-ups and props— and there’s even a pre-recorded bit that felt like it was made for an SNL Digital Short. Everything felt fresh, even if the subject matter was a little bit rotten. So if you to want to cackle until you can’t cackle no more, I’d highly recommend seeing It’s Hard to be Hot.

It’s Hard to Be Hot runs Saturdays through May 25 at the Blackout Cabaret at Second City, 230 W. North Ave. Buy your tickets here.

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James Brod

James Brod recently graduated from Dominican University, with a degree in political science. Ironically, he had previously considered majoring in journalism, but didn’t want to write for a living. Funny how things turn out, isn’t it? You can find him wandering the northwest suburbs, or on Twitter at @JamesBrod12.