gutter ball alley tapings with host wade mcelwain and johnny gardhouse at Showline Studios (915 Lakeshore East), Thursday to Sunday (October 11-14). Free. 416-410-5444. Rating: NNNNN
no program deserves the comedy Network’s slogan “Time well wasted” more than Gutter Ball Alley, the locally produced gross-out game show that asks audience members to do stupid things for cash.Last season’s contestants did everything from bobbing for bull testicles and scooping loonies and toonies out of a pail of pig entrails to drinking wine made of grapes crushed in a guy’s dirty underwear. All for their 15 minutes — more like five — of TV fame and the chance to bowl for cash ($50 per pin, $100 bonus for a strike) and prizes.
Well, toughen up that gag reflex, because the second season’s gearing up, with live tapings throughout the weekend. Host and creator Wade McElwain, who’s fond of handing out $50 for contestants to bowl in their underwear, explains the new stunts in the wings.
“We’re incorporating the Puppetry Of The Penis guys for a game where contestants have to guess the shapes the guys are making with their penises and try them themselves,” says McElwain, a veteran stand-up like co-host Johnny Gardhouse. “There’s also a new game called Jesus, Buddha Or Manson, where you’ve got to guess which messiah said what.”
New physical stunts include Diaper Sniper, where contestants try to catch pudding-filled balloons in their oversized diapers, and a Sex Toys sequence where you guess the flavour of a flavoured condom rolled onto a dildo.
“I’m a stand-up, and believe me, I know when people are having fun,” says McElwain about the show’s success. “There’s also the gross-out factor. You can’t believe people are doing these things. But there’s absolutely no judgment going on.”
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