Jane Wickline of ‘Saturday Night Live’ brings the musical beauty of ‘Dukes’ in two acts

Jane Wickline’s humor is a unique bsurdist flavor. His delivery is low with dedication. His opinion is off kilter with a tendency towards the opposite. However, his appeal is undeniable as he sings about partying too much or the problem of falling in love with the moon. Whether it’s on TikTok, Saturday Night Live, or in his sketch-comedy-musical Dukes collaborator opposite Liva Pierce, her performance style evokes that surreal point at a slumber party where your sleepless brain is giggling, maybe confused, but ultimately happy.

His powers are only enhanced when combined with Pierce, as well Dukes, playing now at the SoHo Playhouse in New York, is a real adventure, such that you might wonder if someone slipped you a pre-dinner treat. Thankfully, it’s a group trip, so you’re surrounded by 170+ other passengers, going through this wacky tale of friendship, firefighter ambitions, and financial despair, fueled by waves of laughter.

What Dukes about?

Written by Wickline and Pierce, Dukes is about two roommates – named Jane and Liva – who hate their jobs and dream big, like finding a lost crystal goose for a good reward.

Going into the show on a Friday night, I happened to be holding the latest rewatch of the comedy about two unlikely friends, Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar again Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. It’s no small feat I tell you Dukes well integrated with it or.

Wickline and Pierce play funny, loving but deeply stupid versions of themselves. Liva belongs to Romy, the more stubborn and the decision maker of the two, setting a double date or encouraging a sapphic cucking scene with a determined neighbor. Jane is very much Michele’s, recklessly following her unexpected engineering passion with no regard for the consequences (like losing her life’s work).

But maybe I’m overemphasizing the conspiracy Dukesfinally a compilation of funny songs, many of which can be seen on Wickline’s TikTok account.

Dukes it’s top notch in the musical numbers.

Jane Wickline and Liva Pierce star in “Dukes.”
Credit: Dev Bowman

Wickline and Pierce’s comic characters offer a deliberate unease, reminiscent of another musical comedy group, Flight of the Conchords.. However, when Dukes it has roamed America, its stars have not been confined to the line of communication. The sketches, although funny, can feel simple, even sketchy. But the songs are very funny.

Like Flight of the Conchords, these zany songs come from the lives of Jane and Liva, giving their high-pitched versions of humor. For example, in the opening song where they wish for “a new kind of pornography,” instead of talking about graphic sex, they suggest – with a straight face – new things like “claymation.” And it’s pretty silly while also feeling like a sly critique of movie-bro snobbery. Such sly criticism would return to the subject, Dukes.

At first, the couple ponders their dream, to have enough money and power to quit their dull office jobs and focus on their passions. They can live like aristocrats – not aristocracy, mind you – but dykes are dudes. A dream.

From there, each comedian takes on a new role, courtesy of Party City’s tortured wigs. Pierce in a pink wig becomes a female love interest in a love song, where Wickline breaks the fourth wall to review the audience for dramatic effect. Later, she’ll play a blonde monstrosity that looks like Nicole Kidman’s last-minute Halloween costume. In this scene, Wickline plays a “living person” who asks probing questions about gender identity to Liv, her young non-binary nanny, who was hoping to meet in May-December, not a heart-to-heart.

Jane Wickline plays a “milf” opposite Liva Pierce in “Dukes.”
Credit: Dev Bowman

In these situations, Wickline and Pierce paint a divisive picture of modern friendship, reveling in the wonderful silliness. The show becomes a celebration of being seen as queer.

Those who love Wickline’s socially awkward appearance on Weekend Update will be delighted Dukes, where he is not distracted by any expectation of appealing to a commercial audience. In this space, he and Pierce opened their wings and instead of flying, they made a chaotic call of wonders. And it works.

Dukes runs at the SoHo Playhouse.