“Sandler’s knack for realistic dialogue makes this story not only feasible, but gleefully relatable.” —Lauren Gillett, Theatremania
“The writing needed no ‘punching up’ at all; I want some of what Kat Sandler’s been drinking.” —Crystal Wood, Mooney on Theatre
The Most Pathetic Guy Ever kidnaps the Funniest Man Alive to make the Saddest Girl in the World laugh.
Duncan has always been a pretty boring guy, leading a simple life while working at a bread factory. Then he stumbles upon Brenda, a sad young woman who’s about to end her life. Convinced he’s fallen in love, Duncan strikes up a desperate deal: if he can get her to laugh, she'll give life another shot, but if she doesn’t even giggle, he'll help her go through with her plan. There’s just one catch: Duncan isn’t funny. At all. So he borrows Pat, his second-favorite comedian, to help him come up with the perfect routine. But Pat is having a hard time mustering his sense of humor after a bad break-up, and the last thing he wants to do is teach a lonely loser the difference between knock-knock jokes and schadenfreude while chained to a typewriter.
A tragicomedy of three misfits, Punch Up navigates a hostage situation and a life-or-death comedy lesson to show just how far we’ll go for a laugh.