After 13 years as a monthly staple at Hotel Congress, Retro Game Show Night has found a new home at the 191 Toole venue.
The comedy show modeled after old-school televised game shows has been running at Hotel Congress since its original venue, Colors, closed its doors in 2012.
Retro Game Show Night is part nostalgic game play and part long-form improv, says the show's creator and producer, David Hoffman. Its regular comedic hosts, Chatty Kathee and her assistant Swish Manley — played by Missy Paschke-Wood and Nick Cianciotto respectively — entertain the audience with a rotating ensemble of "celebrity" guests. Celebrity guests can be both characters created for the show, and sometimes prominent Tucson locals.
Chatty Kathee, right, and her assistant Swish Manley, played by Missy Paschke-Wood and Nick Cianciotto, chat with a contestant at a Retro Game Show Night at Hotel Congress. After 13 years as a monthly staple at Hotel Congress, Retro Game Show Night has found a new home at 191 Toole.
“There's no rehearsals. We don't rehearse for this. The only structure is the game,” Hoffman said.
The crew cycles through six different retro-inspired games in rotation, including their twists on Family Feud and Wheel of Fortune.
“Everybody knows Wheel of Misfortune,” Hoffman said. “We have a big wheel, and there's two spots on the wheel that say ‘uh oh.’ If you land on ‘uh oh,’ you have to do some silly physical task in order to keep going. The task could be running up and down the aisle trying to hold a banana between your knees, or eating whipped cream off of a hot guy dragged up out of the audience.”
Bernaise Dunham Kruger, played by Rebecca Tingley Fox, talks to the audience as a contestant sits at the far left during Retro Game Show Night’s Wheel of Misfortune game at Hotel Congress.
There’s also "The Family Fuss" and "Win, Lose or Draw Badly," among a few other original concept games.
“Our first original game that we introduced is called ‘Battle Mimes,’ and it's based on charades,” Hoffman said. “Just last year, we introduced a new one, based on the board game Taboo. You have a word you're trying to get your teammate to guess, but you have so many words that you can't use, and we've created our version of that called ‘You Don't Say.’”
The humor leans absurd and quirky, Hoffman said, with big personalities, joke answers, and “sponsors” that are usually parodies of existing products and companies.
“It's all good fun,” he said. “You come in in a good mood, you leave in a great mood.”
Missy Paschke-Wood, who has been hosting the show as Chatty Kathee since 2019, described her role as being the “wittiest ringmaster.”
Chatty Kathee, played by Missy Paschke-Wood, left, with a contestant during Retro Game Show Night at Hotel Congress.
“I keep the game moving,” she said. “I try to keep the contestants at ease, but at the same time, have a little bit of fun.”
Over the years, the show has cultivated what Hoffman described as a very supportive, dedicated audience.
“I'd say at this point, we kind of have a cult following,” he said.
On any given night, up to 75% of the audience could be regulars who have frequented the show for years, he said.
“We do have this huge spectrum of people,” Paschke-Wood said. “We have U of A kids come, and then we also have them bringing their grandparents. We had three generations this last month — grandmother, a mother and a grandkid, and it was wild. They were all having a really good time.”
What keeps audiences coming back month after month, Hoffman said, is the community connection.
Fulta Burstyn, played by David Morden, left, gives a hint to a contestant while playing The $9.95 Pyramid game during Retro Game Show Night at Hotel Congress. Swish Manley, center, played by Nick Cianciotto, waits to flip the paper.
“Right now especially, we need to laugh, we need spaces to congregate,” he said. “To know that we are amongst friends and family.”
The community they’ve created is only continuing to grow.
“We're seeing a lot of younger folks finding us,” he said. “Most of us on stage are between 40 and 60, and we know these shows. We grew up with them, and there's a nostalgia factor, but the younger generation is starting to find it.”
Fulta Burstyn, played by David Morden, addresses the audience during Retro Game Show Night.
It’s partly because of their growing fanbase that they decided to move the show to 191 N. Toole, Hoffman and Paschke-Wood said.
“We usually max out every show, which is great to know we're packing the house,” he said. “There's been a few times where we've actually had to turn people away because we were at capacity.”
“We love our family and Congress, but the room is small,” Paschke-Wood said. “We are outgrowing it.”
Another issue they’ve had to contend with is a lack of available parking downtown.
Chatty Kathee and her assistant Swish Manley — played by Missy Paschke-Wood and Nick Cianciotto — react to an answer given by a contestant as Fulta Burstyn, played by David Morden, far right, reacts during Retro Game Show Night.
“We would regularly lose audience members who would tell us later, ‘I tried to come down, but I couldn't find parking,’” Hoffman said. “When I was trying to park for Retro Game Show Night, there was something else going on at Congress, and I had to circle the block like three times before I could actually park behind the building to unload to get ready for this show.”
The space at 191 Toole, in comparison, can hold around 200 people seated — double the show's current capacity at Hotel Congress — and has ample free parking next to the building.
“I honestly think it's gonna make a difference,” Hoffman said. “What I really love is that 191 Toole used to be privately owned, but managed by the Rialto foundation, but now Rialto owns it, so that pretty much sealed the deal for me, because I love nonprofits. I'm a huge fan of Rialto, I like that they're putting money and investing into this space.”
The move is bittersweet for Hoffman, even so.
“It was kind of emotional, but at the same time, we're so excited,” he said.
“There's also so much love between the historic venues,” Paschke-Wood said. “Everybody's goal is more live, more live performances, and so everybody's been really supportive.”
Retro Game Show Night will make its grand debut at 191 Toole on March 14, and Hoffman said they’re going big.
“We'll have all these 'celebrity' guests, we're going to be in a big new space that we're going to be calling our home, I can't wait,” Hoffman said. “We're so ready.”
