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'Justify Your Love': A comedy game show putting 'bad music' on trial
Christina Anthony
Where do you go to seek justice for the music you love but everyone else hates? Justify Your Love is a monthly comedy game show where contestants defend their love of a terrible song. Contestants are handpicked by showrunner T.J. Hurley and are some of the best local comedians in Philly.
The show begins with a contestant playing a clip of their chosen song. Each contestant has five minutes to defend their song however they choose. Past contestants have backed their love of a song through a written argument, PowerPoint, song, and dance. After their testimony, a panel of judges will try to prove that the song is dreadful beyond reasoning. At the end of the show, the crowd votes on who made the more compelling argument.
Justify Your Love has been a popular monthly show at Good Good Comedy Theatre since November 2016. Some classic moments that stand out are when comedian Rose Luardo defended "We Built This City on Rock and Roll" by Starship using only interpretive dance and comic R. Eric Thomas defended We Are Never Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift in such a way that a woman in the crowd laughed so hard that she somehow moved passed laughter, stood up, and just starting screaming.
It is wildly entertaining to watch people passionately justify a song they love that has always been a point of contention. Hurley, producer and comedian, says his show is different from your average comedy show because “there are always a variety of different styles of comedy on each show. In any given show there are elements of standup, sketch, storytelling, improv, and singing.”
Music is about a feeling. Come explore generations of bad music and see if their bad taste will be validated or villainized.
Catch Justify Your Love on Saturday, April 13, and every second Sunday of the month, at 7pm at Good Good Comedy Theatre (215 North 11th Street). Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online. Good Good Comedy Theatre has a portable ramp at the entry for wheelchair users.
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