If things are going well, the comedy actor might step out on a bit of a limb, slipping the bonds of the ensemble and extending just that much more of himself to the audience because, in that moment, he feels welcome.  Any professional will do his best to hide these little cues, often successfully, but there's no mistaking when a performer is “on a roll” because the performer tells us so with his body.  And the audience laughs.

On a bad night, the tactics are much more interesting.  Sensing the onset of malaise, a performer might try to do one of two things.  As he did when he was successfully drawing laughs, he might try to engage the audience by upping the ante, except that on a bad night the connection feels forced and the audience withdraws even more.  Or, getting a whiff of futility, the actor might withdraw back to the fold, back to the ensemble for comfort and reassurance that he has chosen the right profession.  After all, his fellow actors can sense what is happening as well as anyone else, and at the very least they can try to lock down the scene and re-establish chemistry.

A little bit of both seemed to take place Saturday night at the Chocolate Church.  The comedy ensemble in question was a touring group from Second City, the famous factory that has produced the likes of Elaine May, Alan Arkin, Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Peter Boyle, Steve Carell . . . basically anyone you have ever seen do sketch comedy on TV.

The group of Second City performers at Saturday's show are not famous, but someday they may be, and that is undeniably part of the draw.

Currently embarked on their “One Nation, Under Blog” tour, Tim Baltz, Rebecca Hanson, Michael Patrick O'brien, Dana Quercioli, Mark Raterman, and Mary Sohn braved the moody waters of a somewhat older crowd to mostly enthusiastic response.

Tried and true sketches like “Couples Board Games” were easily the most successful material, while the group's half-hearted stabs at politics, like the staged press conference with White House Press Secretary Dana Perino spilling presidential “secrets” after losing her job, came across as lazy.  They managed to wrangle a few chuckles from those who enjoy that kind of thing, but if the show is going to be titled something as headily contemporary as “One Nation, Under Blog,” the troupe will need to drastically improve this material to make any kind of impact.

Then there was the sketch about the neurotic mother (Hanson) teaching her teenage daughter (Quercioli) how to drive, which seemed to go on for an eternity.  Here was one of those instances where the performers deployed the aforementioned tactics, sometimes within seconds of one another, to combat malaise.  They succeeded only in saving the scene from total disaster.

Nonetheless, a certain level of admiration is owed any sketch or improv performer for being willing to fail, and, at times Saturday, fail they did.  Poignantly so.

God bless ‘em.