LINCOLN PARK — Can a human get too high?
That question and other similar pressing "myths" will be put to the test onstage during this month's HIJINKS comedy show.
Modeled after the popular television series "MythBusters," which tests myths through science, HIJINKSBusters will put their burning questions to the test.
HIJINKS member Clayton Margeson said he will be spending all day Saturday smoking pot leading up to the 10:30 p.m. performance.
"He's going to wake and bake for 12 hours," said Jude Tedmori, who is putting together the show. "He's going to try to do as much as he can. He knows that he's trying to get as high as he possibly can."
Paul Biasco says the group is notorious for outlandish shows:
Margeson's girlfriend will act as wrangler for the day, helping him keep an hourly video blog of his progress and ensuring he gets to the theater safely.
Once he arrives, 27-year-old Margeson will compete against an audience member in an obstacle course.
The course will test his body, his mind and his morals.
"It's going to be a full circus of an obstacle course," Tedmori said. "I've never seen him high before, so we will see how it goes."
The obstacle course will include physicals tests like pushups, situps, some tunnels, math questions, trivia questions and role-playing scenarios.
The show will test a total of four myths.
The other three are "Mind Over Matter," "Born This Way" and the "Outliers' theory."
In "Mind Over Matter," HIJINKS member Mike Klasek will face the extreme temptation of pizza.
Klasek, whose favorite food is pizza, has not eaten any for a month and has been on a juice cleanse since Saturday.
When he enters the stage, he will be greeted by a large Papa John's cheese pizza, and it will be Tedmori's job to tempt him to eat the 'za by the end of the show.
In the "Born This Way" segment, Kyle Reinhard will be tasked with trying to pick up as many women as possible at a straight bar and as many men as possible at a gay bar.
The HIJINKS crew took him to charm school this week, and he's been given pickup tips from members of both sexes.
"He's having a panic attack about it," Tedmori said. "He has social anxieties about stuff, so he's not into it."
The "Outliers Theory" test is based on Malcolm Gladwell's idea that people can become an expert at something in 10,000 hours.
Alex Hanpeter won't have 10,000 hours; instead she will get an email from Tedmori at 12:30 p.m. Saturday giving her 10 hours to try to master something.
The test will see if last-minute cramming really works.
Tedmori won't disclose what that might be, but he has lined up a "big name" expert who Hanpeter will face off against onstage that night.
"Each HIJINKS test is almost all of [each member's] greatest fears," Tedmori said.
The show kicks off at 10:30 p.m. Saturday at iO Theater, 1501 N. Kingsbury St. Tickets are $5.
HIJINKS, a comedy group which puts on one outlandish performance per month, is known for its comedy experiments.
In the past the group has created a show around a real-life boxing match between two of its members, held a game show onstage where human urine was drank and hosted an entire show on a roaming party trolley.
HIJINKS Busters is Tedmori's chance to get back at his fellow members for putting up with 12 hours of harassment during the crew's marathon performance last month.
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