Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

As part of my birthday celebration Saturday night, The Gryphon and I saw a performance of ComedySportz.

The idea was to meet up with some of my former classmates from the improv courses I took through ComedySportz.

A number of them had originally expressed interest, but several of them couldn't make it.

Actually, when we arrived at the theater none of them were there, so I thought it would be just the two of us.

Carol showed up after the show started. This is the original Carol, not the one from the musical improv class.

We got to see a lot of new performers, or at least new to me. ComedySportz just added to the troop after auditions earlier this year, so two of them were completely new.

Competing on the red team, a.k.a. the New Jersey Cows, were Jessie Preisendorfer, now the head of the education program and the assistant for the advanced class I took. She was the captain. Her team also included Steve Roney and rookie Sean Roach. On the blue team, a.k.a. the Philadelphia Fighting Amish, were captain Sean Curran, Josh Rubenstein and rookie Al Soowal.

The referee, Tom McManus, seemed like he might have been new to refereeing. Occasionally, he would forget how things would be done, but he thought quickly on his feet and managed to recover. Unless you knew what to expect from the ref, you wouldn't have known.

He got the crowd warmed up, and I noticed they also seemed to have a new keyboard player, the person serving as the "Voice" and who played music for the games that involved songs.

The reason I figure she was new was because they had only one keyboard player when I took the musical improv class this summer, and it was a guy. This time, the keyboard player was a woman.

The match started with a head-to-head challenge of Story from a title suggested by a kid in the audience: "Godzilla at the Tea Party". The kids had surprisingly good suggestions for youngsters.

I was impressed by their playing of Story. This is a game where everybody together tells a story, but they can only talk while the ref is pointing at them and have to pick up exactly where the other person left off, even if it's in the middle of the word. Players are eliminated if they fail to do that, if they lose control of the English language, or if they make numerous other mistakes.

These players finished each other's words, not just sentences, with a high level of energy. The story was simple, involving just a couple characters and enough action to make it interesting. Everyone played it to win it, which made it fun.

The couple, whose name was, I believe, Frank and Jasmine, were throwing a tea party. Godzilla had snagged an invite. He not only came to the party but then killed all the guests and ran off with Jasmine. Years later, Godzilla and Jasmine were married. Frank burst in to fight Godzilla but threw a sword and accidentally hit Jasmine in the stomach! Great story, and it actually had an ending. That's pretty amazing.

Jessie was one of the last two people, but the Fighting Amish pulled out a win. So they went first with the next game, which was Expert Panel. In this game, three players answer questions in character. Usually, they'll have different professions and personality quirks, which can color their responses. They did it a little differently than we did at class, in that they selected from amongst the props and wig to help create the character they were playing.

Sean Curran chose a button-down orange polyester shirt, of which he buttoned only the top two buttons. He hunched his shoulders and talked in a nasally voice as a big World of Warcraft geek. Alli wore a fruit hat and a feather boa. She stood imperiously, making lots of hand gestures and speaking with an island accent, as a fortuneteller. Josh chose a black windbreaker with flames on it, and held a black hat in his hat, which he bunched up, twisted or gestured with as his Italian truant officer with possible mob ties.

After introducing everybody, Ref Tom asked them a few questions and then took some from the audience. Some of my favorites were the responses to how do you heal a broken heart.

The geek, who said he's a paladin in World of Warcraft, gave complicated instructions which involved holding your mouse over somebody's heart and hitting F2. The fortuneteller's response usually involved dire predictions and then an appeal for them to seek more advice personally, at a cost of $49.95 an hour.

The truant officer suggested getting your buddies together, find the boy on the playground who stole your girl and then beating him up.

A related question was how do you get a prom date. The geek was really quiet, shifting his feet, and said he hoped to hear the answers of the other contestants. The truant officer said he went down to the docks and picked somebody up, so the geek jumped in and said that's what he'd do, too. The fortuneteller gave specific instructions for where to be at a certain time and who to look for. That person, she said, would be the love of your life. Oh, and she'd be willing to provide more details for a reasonable fee of $49.95.

Now that I know what to look for, they all did an excellent job. They adopted very strong characters and answered those questions in character. Although they weren't trying for punchlines, staying true to their characters made it funny.

Then the New Jersey Cows played a game of Forward Reverse based on my suggestion of wedding. Now, Forward Reverse is a game I haven't played before. In this game, the players start a scene. At any point, the ref can blow the whistle and say, "Reverse", at which point the players have to do everything in backwards order, until the ref blows the whistle again and says "Forward". The ref can go back and forth as often as desired.

While it looks like a fun game, I'm not surprised we didn't tackle it in class. It doesn't focus on scene building so much as showing off your improv skills.

Jessie and Steve began on-stage, Jessie adjusting a tie in the mirror. Steve ran up and said his tie didn't fit. She said hers didn't either, so they switched. The ref had them replay this back and forth several times, and they managed to keep their heads, meeting the challenge. In reverse, they backed up past the beginning, and Jessie began talking to Sean Roach, who was the bride, also frantic about getting ready, worried her dress wouldn't fit (must have been channeling me).

Sean Roach, though, got confused and got off track. After that, instead of getting back into the flow of the game, he started doing his own thing. While the other two continued Forward and Reverse, he was sort of off to the side doing things like saying, "What's happening?" or claiming that he was behind a mirror and they couldn't see him.

Even though we all knew it was incredibly wrong, it was still terribly funny. When Ref Tom took votes comparing the two games (Expert Panel and Forward Reverse), he called it "Forward Reverse and some other guy". They actually won and got the points for that round, just because it was so entertaining. Which just goes to show you can't really make a mistake in improve. Ultimately, if the audience is entertained, you're a success.

Next was the group game of Dueling Soundtracks. This is a game we did in the musical improv class. Two teams compete in two rounds. In each round, one of the teams sings the theme song for a TV show based on a suggestion from the audience. Then the other team has to act out a short scene from that show.

The first suggestion was Barney Revisited, and in the theme song you found out that Barney the dinosaur was trying to be hip, so he'd learned how to rap. Josh came on as Barney, wearing a big bathrobe, some bling and a hat with dreadlocks. He was talking all gangsta to Baby Bop, played by Alli. Then he did a little rap that involved shooting things, which horrified Baby Bop, especially when he killed a dove. Sean Curran, as a kid, came out and, when Barney hugged him, started crying.

The other suggestion was a combination of terms and became Fall Hairpiece. In the theme song, you learned the show was about a woman who had lost all her hair and spent a lot of time at the mall. Her best friend and companion was an accountant. When the scene opened, Sean Roach, who coincidentally has only a little stubble, was folding clothes. Steve flounced in wearing a wig and made fun of Sean Roach, who was clearly the woman from the theme song, for not having any hair, making her cry.

Jessie walked in briskly, carrying a clipboard and some books, as the accountant. The keyboard player even played some applause, the way you would for a recurring character on a sitcom. The accountant advised her to get a hairpiece, because she could deduct it as a business expense and save money on her taxes. Just as Sean Roach was about to sing a song about how happy the character was, Ref Tom called time. Very Pythonesque.

I noticed how they were using more props than usual, such as the clipboard. Maybe that's something that depends on the performer. Sometimes it can limit you, but in this case, it clearly established that she was the accountant before she'd even said a word. Brilliant.

That put the Philadelphia team in the lead, and therefore, Jessie's team got a chance to catch up by playing Five Things. This is essentially a miming game. You get suggestions for five activities from the audience, then make them more difficult. So for example, if you're playing golf, maybe instead of a golf course, you're at the bottom of the ocean. Instead of a golf ball, maybe you're hitting Frank Sinatra. It doesn't really matter, because each portion is conveyed separately, using mime and gibberish.

I'm having trouble remembering all of the activities, but several of them stand out to me. Sean Roach was guessing, with Jessie and Steve giving him the clues. One activity was flying a kite. Instead of a kite, it was Batman, and the string was made of nuclear waste. The kite flying part took a little time because you're not allowed to actually do the activity; instead, you have to make the guesser do the activity. Jessie conveyed the idea of kite flying by concentrating on the reel of string and then, after handing it, and the kite, to him, pointing to the sky. Steve mimed bats flying into his face and then indicating the bats were on his chest, as he stood up, arms akimbo, like a hero. Nuclear waste was harder, and Jessie had some trouble with it, so Steve jumped in, taking him from the power outlet to the power plant and then miming the idea of icky waste. Then Sean Roach understood.

Next was, I believe, pitching a tent on the moon with Michael Jackson. This one was easier for them, and he got the idea of a tent right away. Then they took the tent and got on a rocket, flying to the moon, where they bounced around in zero gravity. Michael Jackson was too easy: Steve just did a moonwalk! Sean Roach said "camping" instead of "pitching a tent", but they gave him the point.

Then was commercial whaling, but instead of a whale it was a professor. Instead of a harpoon, it was a doo-rag. They were running out of time at this point, but got it at the last second. Aside from saying that he was commercial whaling for Einstein with a bandana for a harpoon, they gave it to him.

They also got one other one, but I'm having trouble remembering it. They didn't have time for the fifth one, golfing on a baseball field while wearing a prison jump suit.

This didn't quite bring them even. Then it was time for intermission. Carol explained that she'd been running behind because she'd held a yard sale that afternoon and was exhausted. I have to credit her for showing up nonetheless.

After the break was another group competition, this one of Echo. In this, you act out a very short scene until the ref stops you. Then the two people performing leave the stage and two people from the other team come in. They have to start with the last line the other players said. This is a rapid-fire game, with emphasis on small scenes, using lines general enough to be reused.

They did a very good job, jumping on-stage quickly with a lot of enthusiasm, coming up with scenes that involved the platform: characters, where, and what they're doing. Considering how short the time was they were on-stage, it was impressive.

The audience had to choose which team did better, but it was a tough choice. The New Jersey Cows took it, pulling ahead. This meant they went first in the next head-to-head, with a game of Arms Expert.

This is a game where one player acts as a moderator, asking questions. Another player is an expert and provides the answers, while the third person stands behind them and acts as their arms. They actually used a big shirt, which they put over both those players so that the arms looked more real. Sort of like the Swedish Chef on The Muppet Show.

Jessie asked the questions, with Steve as the expert and Sean Roach doing his arms. Roach is very expressive with his hands, which made for an entertaining game. Steve answered a lot of questions, taking a cue from the hands and answering them in a roundabout, stream-of-consciousness way, using a voice that was very sort of old-ladyish.

He was an expert in finding lost socks, and so he fielded a lot of questions from the audience about missing items of clothing. He managed to make it funny, because with the hands being very expressive, he got onto tangents that were very involved, such as nailing a bunch of socks on the wall to show why colored socks are easier to find than white ones.

The Philadelphia Fighting Amish then did Blind Line. In this game, all the players leave the room while the audience generates a series of lines. These are written down on pieces of paper and scattered all over the stage. The players can pick them up at any point and incorporate them into the scene.

The suggestion for a place to start was a park. Sean Curran and Alli were on-stage, with Sean setting up a picnic blanket and Alli offering him egg salad. He was trying to work up his nerve to tell her how much she meant to him. But then, of course, he picked up a line that said, "Excuse me, while I kiss the sky," which only made Alli jealous.

Sometimes the lines fit perfectly. For example, to demonstrate how madly he was in love with her, Sean smeared egg salad all over his chest. Alli picked up a line, which was "Take a shower." You couldn't have planned it better.

The scene was beginning to lose steam, and Alli had a line, "You cannot change the laws of physics." So Josh said, "Cut to the physics lab," and he was doing an experiment to change the laws of physics. But they hadn't gotten very far when Ref Tom called time.

The last was a group challenge: Hey Waiter. An audience volunteer sits on a chair and feeds a line to the players, whose job is to come up with a punch line. The line is, "Hey, waiter, there's a blank in my soup," with the audience supplying the blanks. Whichever player has a joke can step up. The more memorable jokes came from "Hey, waiter, there's a dentist in my soup."

I thought Jessie had some of the best jokes, but the Philadelphia team generated the most jokes and so ultimately took the match. I thought both sides did a really good job. They seemed to understand what the strengths were of each player, and they also did a great job of teamwork. Very entertaining.

Afterwards, the three of us grabbed some dinner. We wanted someplace light, so we walked to Cosi on Walnut Street. I ordered one of their salads with a coffee with Bailey's. Yummy but not terribly wicked.

Carol told me she's been reading Musings, and she wanted to reassure me about my wedding dress fitting OK. She told me that there's a difference between being too tight and being formfitting, and she asked if I'd had any trouble zipping it. I said that no, we didn't have any trouble in that regard. She said it was probably fine.

A worse scenario, she said, would be if it were too big and falling off! That was a good way to look at it, and I thanked her for reassuring me.

We caught up on things in our lives, and it was nice talking to her. Over the several classes we've taken together, we've gotten to know each other, both from talking during breaks and from, say, walking together afterwards or grabbing a bite to eat.

It was a nice way to spend my birthday, doing something fun!

More from Alyce's birthday celebration:

September 10, 2007 - Birthday Pampering

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

September 2007 Index

Musings Index

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