Marriage makes fine comedy fare

SATURDAY, FEB. 22

Teresa and Doug Wyckoff get plenty of marriage advice as part of their comedy act “The He and She Show.” But some suggestions are a lot stranger than others.

“Don’t ever go to the bathroom angry”?

“We get ‘Don’t go to bed angry’ all the time,” Teresa Wyckoff said. “But that was the first time we’ve gotten that. I guess you solve problems really quickly.”

Saturday’s gig will be the only Hawaii performance on this trip for the comedic couple, who met through the local group Power Up Comedy while living on Maui a few years ago and now reside in Florence, Ore.

The start of “The He and She Show” came when Teresa Wyckoff wanted to go home to Portland to visit family and friends.

“We didn’t have a lot of money, and he didn’t necessarily want to visit Portland; at the time it didn’t seem very appealing,” she said. “So I thought it’d be fun to organize a comedy show as kind of a way to convince him to go and also to kind of pay for the trip. So then we just came up with, ‘Well, why don’t we just do, like, a relationship-themed show, since all our jokes are sort of about each other?’”

It was only supposed to be a one-time thing, but the act worked. It’s evolved ever since as the couple has toured the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.

The Wyckoffs, who got married in July, ask the audience before the show to fill out cards with marriage advice or questions for the comedians.

“We read through the marriage advice cards and kind of riff and improv off those,” Doug Wyckoff said. This process makes every show different, tailored to that night’s crowd.

Things can get a little naughty when talking about relationships and marriage (in one joke, Doug calls Teresa a “sex ninja”). But Teresa Wyckoff said the show is definitely not as “adult” as many other stand-up acts.

To date, only one person has submitted the “bathroom” advice. The most common piece of advice they’ve received?

“Her favorite is, ‘She’s always right,’” Doug Wyckoff said.

“It’s very correct and very important,” Teresa responded.

— Stefanie Nakasone, Star-Advertiser