This weekend's program, which includes audience participation and a question-and-answer period, draws on works based on familiar fairy tales like "Cinderella" and "Hansel and Gretel".
While other Broadway theaters are filled with "Les Misérables," revivals of old musicals and revues based on familiar songs, "Def Poetry Jam" is up to the minute.
I also saw Barry Humphries, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Meow Meow doing a programme called the Weimar Cabaret, which was based on familiar and bizarre and totally forgotten music from the Weimar Republic.
The often mystical significance of his subjects is countered by the idealized reality of his figures based on familiar human archetypes, with natural gestures and tender, devout expressions, creating an effect of intimate rather than exalted religious sentiment.
You strap on the Oculus Rift headset and a pair of headphones, then find yourself flying through a world based on familiar The Who images, from bullseyes and magic buses to a Soho doorway.
Currently, the top live-action non-sequel that is not based on familiar elements is Django Unchained, with £15.7m, although some might argue that Quentin Tarantino's film inherited something from the original 1966 picture starring Franco Nero.
Top film not based on familiar elements is Now You See Me, with £11.0m, although you could argue that the animation Epic (£13.6m) didn't rely for its audience on familiarity with the William Johnson source material, The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs.
Among Shuffle Master's new games were "Sydney Omarr's Horoscope" and "Marvel Heroes and Villains," while Mikohn had new slots featuring the smiling face of the game-show host Wink Martindale and several more based on familiar games like Trivial Pursuit and Clue.
Uniquely, an ecolabel was used in the design, based on familiar energy rating labels, to communicate the environmental pressure of fish farming to respondents.
