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Variety Pack
After its debut in 2025, VARIETY PACK is back and leveling up. Philadelphia’s festival dedicated to the chaotic, theatrical, unclassifiable corners of alt-comedy returns January 22 – 31, 2026 with two weekends of shows, twenty acts, and even more gloriously unhinged performances.
Held at the Louis Bluver Theatre at The Drake, Variety Pack brings audiences everything from family-friendly improvised musicals to theatrical send-ups of pop culture, late-night cartoons, bold solo shows, and The Futuremores “‘fake’ awards show for real shows that haven’t happened yet”.. It’s the kind of festival you explain to your friends by saying, “I can’t even explain it. I hope it comes back so you can see it.”
7:00 PM, My Favorite Broadway: The Lost Tapes
Based on audience suggestions, Chris Newcomer and Alanna Shaffer will perform classic songs from bygone musicals you’ve never heard of because they don’t actually exist. Along with Michael Raab as musical director come see this improvised confection made for people who wish there were even more classic musicals in the canon!
8:30 PM, R. Eric Thomas: What’s New With You? (An Hour of Gossip)
Small talk, big secrets, gossip, unsolicited opinions, lab work, take home quizzes, trust falls, game show, storytelling, comedy, under one hour. New material from R. Eric Thomas, world's oldest millennial.
10:00 PM, She Was a Conquistawhore
Legend has it The Conquistawhore pounds whiskey and brawls her vagina, on account he makes terrible decisions. The two wander the Wild West (or is that the Main Line?) weaving a story of manifest destiny - a calling to take the land back one cis-white man at a time. An absurdly radical exploration of intergenerational trauma and healing where even pussies can become cowboys. Come to laugh and/or cry - stay for the horses and live music.
