Photo provided by Dad’s Garage

Atlanta Loop has partnered with Dad’s Garage to provide recaps of their latest show: SCANDAL. This improvised soap opera takes place in a fancy hotel with a seedy male strip club in the bottom. Every week the improvisers at Dad’s Garage will make up the drama, the laughs, and the SCANDAL on stage at their theatre; and we’ll be publishing the recaps. Imagine Soap Opera Digest meets Atlanta Loop, and you get the idea. Subscribers to Atlanta Loop/Decaturish will have access to a limited number of free tickets each week. To purchase tickets for the next show, click here.

Our story begins in the lobby of the Quadruple Tree Hotel, where the GM, Bergeron Vandershite, has called a staff meeting in regards to the arrival of the Russian Ambassador. As first order of business, the valet Derrek Wozniak is told that if he scratches the ambassador’s limo he will be fired–by which Bergeron means he will be killed. Second, it is absolutely imperative that no cameras are set up anywhere in the hotel during the ambassador’s visit. The audience also meets plucky bellhop Rusty Keyster and the scheming concierge, Shedebra Bunting.

Meanwhile the adult entertainment club downstairs, Danglerzzz, is enjoying a dance from its oldest performer, Jiarrhea “Thunderpud” Johannson while the bartender, Jessie “Cans” Goodknight is cleaning. At the end of his number, Jiarrhea bemoans that he hasn’t slid down his own pole since a bus ran over his bits and pieces. Jessie gives him some tough love as Blueballs the pirate takes the stage. Jiarrhea tells Jessie that he’s worried the club will go under; Jessie admits that she suspects that Shedebra is a double crosser, and the best hope for the club is catch the Russian Ambassador doing illicit activity.

In the locker room nearby dancer Herb Patterson, a.k.a Lube Diamond Phillips, is warming up for the evening when he is disrupted by Derrek, who confesses that he wants to bring the Russians down for attacking his native Poland by blackmailing the Russian Ambassador. Herb was a Special Ops Agent in both World Wars and Korea, and the discussion gives him flashbacks of being imprisoned at Camp Ticonderoga.

Upstairs at the concierge desk, Shedebra is running things as usual when gumshoe reporter Ashley Andover arrives incognito as Scrunge, a tough guy in his late fifties with a sketchy past. Impressed with Scrunge’s build and support for Hillary Clinton, Shedebra asks “Scrunge” if he has any interests in doing some “side work” at the hotel.

Down in Danglerzzz Jessie is cleaning as Bergeron approaches in a huff because the only reason the club still stands is due to it being a historical site–Sherman had received such good service under the table that he refused to burn the place down. In an attempt at cordiality, Jessie insists that Bergeron call her Cans and vows to teach him how to be less stuffy. As she does, Blueballs returns for another set and closes out Act One.

At the beginning of Act Two, Herb is dancing on the stage as Rusty watches from the bar, gushing over Herb’s sweet moves. He explains that he came into the club by mistake and didn’t know where he was. He then admits that he wants to get into showbiz. Herb also has a confession: he is secretly using his income to help fund a face transplant for his daughter.

In the locker room Jessie is showering and catches Scrunge snooping around. Scrunge asks her about her past, and she reminisces that Danglerzzz was always her special place. When asked what he is doing there, Scrunge says he was sent by an ironic blog that talked about how hideous the place is. This upset Jessie, and Scrunge offered to audition for the club so that they could save it.

Later that night Shedebra and Jiarrhea are drinking at the bar. Jiarrhea owes Shedebra a finder’s fee for a certain lady friend at a substantial mark up, or else. In order to pay his debt, Jiarrhea must meet with a mysterious Russian woman and kill her.

Upstairs Bergeron wakes Derrek up from a nap in a guest room and asks if he is unlikable. Derrek says no, but Bergeron is dubious. Derrek reveals that he wants to start doing stand up and tells Bergeron a joke–it was terrible.

It’s a slow night in Danglerzzz and Jiarrhea is on the stage while Herb watches. After some repartee Jiarrhea suggests the two start a double act called Shock and Awe; they spit and shake on it. Jiarrhea goes on to remember his own past as a train robber in an elaborate heist.

Back in the lobby, Shedebra and Jessie commiserate over their positions in the building, and a friendship forms. Bergeron rushes in and asks Jessie to retire in the Executive Suite for the night. Jessie agrees on the condition that Shedebra join her and neither work for 24 hours. This mean Bergeron must take over the hotel and the club–can he handle it?

Later, everyone gathers for Scrunge’s audition. Despite the challenges of wearing a disguise, Scrunge wows the crowd and is accepted as the new spring chicken in Danglerzzz.

Will Scrunge’s secret be revealed? Who will Jiarrhea kill? Will Bergeron lighten up? Tune in next week to find out!