Ladies ready to make you laugh
MONDAY
Caught Watch this if: You like stories where it’s hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Right off the top, this Canadian miniseries has three things to recommend it: actors Allan Hawco, playing a drug trafficker who’s busted out of jail; Eric Johnson as his double-dealing former partner; and Paul Gross as the washedup cop looking to put the right guy behind bars. But there’s more, including Enuka Okuma ( Rookie Blue) as a DEA agent who’s tired of doing all the hard work for none of the glory. Most importantly, it’s just entertaining TV with a premiere that hits the ground running (literally) and keeps up the pace. (CBC at 9 p.m.) —Debra Yeo
McMafia Watch this if: You like smart TV drama with equally smart actors. This series, which got good reviews in its U.K. run, is ambitious in scope: examining the multinational networks that facilitate crimes such as drug smuggling, sex trafficking and money laundering. The cast is also multinational with standouts such as Briton James Norton ( Grantchester, Happy Valley), American David Strathairn ( Good Night, and Good Luck), Russian Merab Ninidze ( Bridge of Spies), India’s Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Russian-Canadian Aleksey Serebryakov ( Leviathan). In the premiere, the attempted assassination of a Russian mobster is answered with a cold-blooded murder in London, which draws upstanding investment banker Alex (Norton) into a world he has tried to avoid. (AMC at 10 p.m.) —DY
TUESDAY
Everything Is Terrible!’s The Great Satan Watch this if: You believe that the devil doesn’t necessarily get all the best lines. A collective of cult-movie hounds and video bloggers from L.A., Everything Is Terrible! gained wider infamy for opening a pop-up video store stocked entirely with 15,000 VHS copies of Jerry Maguire. Though that stunt was hard to top, they do their best to amaze and amuse with their latest event: a combination of live show and found-footage extravaganza devoted to all things Lucifer. They will also be accepting more copies of a certain Tom Cruise movie if patrons have any to donate — for sacrificial purposes, of course. (The Royal, 608 College St., 8:30 p.m.) —Jason Anderson
WEDNESDAY
Phoebe Bridgers Watch this if: You’re marking time until the next local sighting of Julien Baker. “Jesus Christ, I’m so blue all the time,” Bridgers sings in one of her gloomier moments — and there are a few of them, along with a sly wit and a deft ear for an affecting melody. She’s no stranger here, having opened here for pals Baker and Conor Oberst, but, with last fall’s debut LP Stranger in the Alps, the L.A. artist has moved into a bigger league including this first tour as a headliner/bandleader. Montreal’s Common Holly, out of the same melancholic songwriting school, figures to set a mood that should hold all night. (Velvet Underground, 508 Queen St. W., 8 p.m.) —Chris Young
Black Boys Watch this if: You missed this dance-theatre piece the first time around. In 2016, Buddies premiered this collective creation by three queer Black Toronto actors: Tawiah Ben M’Carthy, Stephen Jackman Torkoff and Thomas Olajide (with direction by Jonathan Seinen and choreography by Virgilia Griffith). It then toured to Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. Now this intimate, funny, moving and vulnerable depiction of queer Black masculinity returns Wednesday to Toronto, at a moment when it’s arguably more vital than ever to hear the lived experiences of those who have been, and continue to be, marginalized and misunderstood. (Until March 11, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St., 8 p.m.) —Carly Maga
THURSDAY
Milk & Bone Watch this because: Sometimes, less really can be more. Montreal songwriter-producers Camille Poliquin and Laurence Lafond-Beaulne can sneak up on you, arriving with a minimum of fuss onstage and taking their spots behind matching keyboards and samplers. Then they hit their marks and start stealing hearts with sweet harmonies and songs that swell from sparse beginnings to dramatic peaks, as tender and intimate an electronic pop reverie as you’ll find this or most any season. Deception Bay, followup to their muchadmired 2015 debut LP Little Mourning, gets its first local trial here on the tour’s opening night. While the recordings have obvious quality, it’s live where their potent chemistry and likability really shows. Young Oshawa foursome Dizzy seems a good fit to start it off. (Mod Club, 722 College St., doors 8 p.m.) —CY
He Who Falls Watch this if: You don’t get dizzy easily. French circus artist and choreographer Yoann Bourgeois is known for creating physically challenging pieces that pit the performers against a constantly changing and manipulating environment. You may have seen viral video of his piece The Mechanics of History, showing performers climbing a rotating staircase using a trampoline in the middle of their platform. He Who Falls, receiving its North American premiere with Canadian Stage on Thursday, places six performers on a stage that spins, rises and tilts beneath them as they dance. (Until March 4, Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front St. E., 8 p.m.)
AGO First Thursday Do this if: You haven’t reached your Kusama saturation point The monthly art party gets on the Kusama train (along with everyone else) with Down the Rabbit Hole, an OCAD-student planned evening that takes the artist’s Alice obsession to heart (she’s described herself as the “modern day” version of the girl who tumbles down into Wonderland). Montreal band TOPS headlines, with a live performance from choreographer Amanda Acorn, sculpture by Hoda Zarbaf and pop-up talks from the Angry Asian Feminist Gang and visual perception researcher Dirk BernhardtWalther. (Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas St. W., 7 p.m.). —Murray Whyte
Toronto Sketchfest Watch this if: You think 13 is a lucky number. The 13th annual Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival returns to brighten up your late winter blues (spring will come, we promise). Bringing over 60 sketch troupes from across North America to two venues (Comedy Bar and the Theatre Centre) over 10 days, comedy fans can catch local favourites and discover new performers from out of town. Headlining this year’s festival is a special presentation of Bruce McCulloch’s new one-man show Tales of Bravery and Stupidity, U.K. duo Flo & Joan, the beloved Women Fully Clothed and the 100th edition of Rapp Battlez, a popular local showcase of rap-battling comedians host by Freddie and Miguel Rivas. (Various locations, to March 11, torontosketchfest.com) —CM
FRIDAY
A Date for Mad Mary Watch this if: You want a movie charmer like only the Irish can make. An annual showcase of new movies from the Emerald Isle, the Toronto Irish Film Festival launches its 2018 slate with this favourite of critics and audiences across the Atlantic. A recent Best Film winner at the Irish Film and TV Awards, A Date for Mad Mary stars Seana Kerslake as a young woman who’s just finished a prison stint for her latest run-in with the law and is now faced with the challenge of finding a date for her best mate’s wedding. The TIRFF follows up her story with two more days and nights of blarney and whimsy. (Until March 4, TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W., toirishfilmfest.com) —JA