The Old School Game show beckons you to take the plunge into their fishbowl of fun and games. – Photo by Jason Walsh

By Erica Scharn

For its Valentine-themed show Feb. 23, Old School Game Show demonstrated its love for all things Patrick Swayze with an interpretive dance and a mullet.

Old School Game Show (OSGS), an interactive variety show, takes place at The Davis Square Theatre on the last Sunday of each month. The retro-inspired live theater experience allows audience members to join the show as contestants in trivia challenges based on pop culture both old and new, while featuring local musicians, comedians, dancers and other talent. Local sponsors, which included Mixcard, High Energy Vintage and Somerville Skillshare, provided prizes and the dates for The Dating Game winners.

“It’s a somewhat irreverent mockery of the whole game show culture,” said Lawrence resident and first-time OSGS attendee Da Butcha, who participated as a contestant in the trivia challenges. “I just enjoyed the whole evening, it’s really fun. It’s a good way to spend a Sunday evening.” He said that his favorite part was standing behind the buzzer stand and corral: “It felt like a muppet – the two-hand muppets.”

Slow Jam Jubilee had a romance theme, complete with a Dating Game-like segment featuring local celebrities and risqué, unexpected make-out sessions between the characters. The next show on March 30 will have an action movie theme: Get To The Chopper, Panty Dropper!

“I was very impressed. I thought it was great,” said Catherine Capozzi from Brighton. “I didn’t have any expectations whatsoever – I didn’t really know anything about it. It was entertaining; they totally moved it along. I liked the accordionist Martha that came out [Baby Making Polka Music with musical guest Martha Marin].”

With a collage of pictures from Patrick Swayze movies on the large screen behind the OSGS house band, D’Angelo donned a black leotard and joined house dance troupe The Cubic Zirconia Dancers (who wore gold leotards and orange legwarmers) for a faux-dramatic dance channeling Dirty Dancing. To pay homage to another type of Patrick Swayze movie, Road House, a hillbilly with a mullet made an appearance.

– Photo by Jason Walsh.

“I’m a big Road House and Patrick Swayze fan, and those two worlds – loving something and realizing how ridiculous and kind of dumb but brilliant at the same time,” OSGS Host and Creator Mike D’Angelo said. “There’s a lot of that stuff that happens in the show about the stuff we like, and the physical show itself – like how ridiculous and silly and stupid it is, but also hopefully done cleverly.”

There were high fives and back patting amongst team members, although teams were created randomly through the drawing of audience names from the OSGS fishbowl. Da Butcha said that he felt like he bonded with his teammates. Sound effects and music from the OSGS house band, coupled with dramatic lights, accentuated the trivia challenges.

D’Angelo and Announcer Mo Lotman jokingly chided Dating Game contestant and winner Ryan Bambery for going “rogue” and not waiting for the bachelorette’s multiple-choice options. D’Angelo reminded contestants to keep their hands on the shag covering the buzzer stand rather than hovering over the buzzers. There was even some playful audience heckling: the audience collectively groaned “Nooo!” when one of the contestants named the wrong Jim Carrey movie in PartyLine To The Other Side, a new OSGS trivia challenge in which Supernatural Special Guest Barry White, voiced by Colin Metz, crooned a TV Guide summary and the contestants guessed the TV show or movie.

But OSGS is about having fun and not the ultimate win, and D’Angelo said that he aims to make everyone feel comfortable. “We do have the game show spirit – hopefully that kind of communal thing. We aim to create a very warm and loose atmosphere,” said D’Angelo. “We want to make it more like game night at someone’s home.”