Drum Machine

Fri., Oct. 16, 10 p.m., $12, Playground at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 877-985-2844, comedysportzphilly.com.

by Kristen Humbert

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[ comedy ]

When improv comedian Jill Bernard first practiced her show Drum Machine, she did so by herself in bed, giggling. When she debuted it in person, she giggled even more. "I was supposed to do it for 15 minutes," she says. "I did it for five and said, 'Thank you and good night!' and ran off stage." For good reason: Bernard's seven-year-old show, in which she accompanies herself on a blue plastic drum machine, is goofy as hell. Taking both a period of history and an element of someone's life from the audience, Bernard sings and acts her way through odd comedic combinations. A past show paired "the wild West" with "traveling from Baltimore," which resulted in a spirit quest for shellfish, a sweat-lodge love affair with an American Indian valley girl, and the mushroom-induced hallucinations of a horse-turned-Cher. If that's what comes from the suggestion "Baltimore," just imagine what the word "Philly" could conjure.

Fri., Oct. 16, 10 p.m., $12, Playground at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 877-985-2844, comedysportzphilly.com.