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Community Corner

Escape: A Good Guffaw Can Do Wonders

Holiday survival tip #509: Laugh so you don't cry.

Visiting, long-staying in-laws. One million e-mails about holiday deals clogging your inbox. Scraps of wrapping paper in your hair and ornament hooks in your feet and that horrible "Dominick the Donkey" song in your head. Honestly, it's enough to make even the calmest person shed a few tears.

Perhaps it's best to just go the laughing route this year. As if on cue, local comedy group Awkward Compliment is hosting its weekly comedy night at the Somerville Theatre this Thursday (8:30 p.m. this week, instead of the usual 8:00 p.m. start time). Composed of six regular members and two honorary members, and regularly visited by various guests, the troupe offers up a comedic respite from the holiday madness, mixing it up with both stand-up and improv.

Of course, since the night is hosted at the historic Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, your options for pre-show entertainment nourishment are endless. Redbones BBQ for jerk chicken and fried pickles (and fried jalapenõs; don't forget the fried jalapenos)? Dave's Fresh Pasta for the best fig and prosciutto sandwich this side of...somewhere? Boston Burger Company for one of 24 burger offerings? And don't forget: The theatre itself serves both Richardson's Ice Cream frappes and beer and wine. So.

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Perhaps the best part? The show costs a mere $5. That's a lot of laughing—and a lot of not-crying—for very little. Fa la la la la, we say.

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