Improvised
A while ago I talked about my limited experiences with standup comedy. The other major comedy genre I have experience with is improv. I wouldn't say that I love improv or have a burning desire to see more of it, but unlike stand up, I've actually laughed heavily at improv shows.
This is good, because I have some family ties to improv. My sister belonged to not one but two different improv groups in Atlanta over the years. Her husband belonged to one of them - they actually kind of sort of met via improv if you accept "my sister recognized him from improv on the dating app" as "met via improv." Closer to home, M loves improv and even took some classes before she met me. I personally went to a couple practices for an improv group at CWRU when I was a super senior, but I decided I wasn't really that interested in it. I do appreciate the "Yes, And" mindset though.
Anyway, here's a brief history of the improv shows I've attended.
- Way back in December 2000, I went to a performance of a Cleveland improv group called Cabaret Dada down somewhere in the flats for aquamindy's birthday. I remember this more as being the first time I really interacted with Mandy (sparklie_lady) any significant amount than I do for the improv.
- For a hot minute, the legendary Chicago based improv group The Second City had a location in Cleveland. Early in 2003 my office had a night out there to see the show titled "For Those About to Iraq We Salute You." I believe it was at the Hanna Theater, but I may have made that up as my lists weren't that detailed back then. I brought my friend MJ as my guest. I remember that most of my colleagues were pretty unimpressed. That location went under pretty quickly; I remember it being less than a year and it might have been more like six months.
- By 2012, my sister was doing improv classes herself, so when we went to New York City that December she dragged me to see Upright Citizens Brigade. As I recall, someone from her high school summer theater group was a cast member, although I don't believe he was present that day. The show we saw was "DEATH BY ROO ROO: Your F'ed Up Family" and they did two acts. The first I don't recall at all. The second took an audience cue, which was "Double Dutch." It quickly became clear that the cast members had no idea that "Double Dutch" as a jump roping term, and they instead went into some convoluted piece about two identical Dutchmen who might have been twins. I don't remember clearly what happened, but I do remember laughing very, very hard. It's easily the best improv piece I've ever seen.
- In 2015, my parents and I actually got to see my sister perform with her first improv group. First we saw them do "improv at the park" in the Atlantic Station mall complex, and then the next night we saw them at Whole World Improv Theatre.
It was at my sister's two shows on back to back days that I realized that my problem with improv is less the genre or even the execution and talent (or lack thereof) of the performers. No, my problem is mostly with the audience. It seems like every improv show I went to that called for open suggestions from the audience got the same suggestions. For example, I've heard the request "Give me an accent" multiple times at my sister's shows, and Irish was the first one yelled out every time. I can do my own shitty Irish accent with bad Irish stereotypes behind, can we have something else? Pick pretty much any cue, and you the "normal" responses are the ones you hear the most often. Maybe improv groups should have a list of verboten answers that gets some kind of snarky response back to the crowd, in the same way that particularly professional bands have some kind of sarcastic response ready when someone shouts "Freebird!"
Speaking of Freebird!, the best response to Freebird! that I've ever heard is "Ah, Freebird. The mantra of the moron" from Glenn Hansard of the Swell Season. Glenn, of course, was in the movie Once, which inspired the musical Once, which my sister and I saw in NYC in 2012 on the same trip where we saw the Upright Citizens Brigade. Clearly this must mean something! It probably doesn't mean that I'm right about the audience being the problem with improv though, but if you happen to go to an improv show, I suggest having a few non-Irish languages saved up to yell for that cue. And no, Gaelic and Scottish don't count.
This is good, because I have some family ties to improv. My sister belonged to not one but two different improv groups in Atlanta over the years. Her husband belonged to one of them - they actually kind of sort of met via improv if you accept "my sister recognized him from improv on the dating app" as "met via improv." Closer to home, M loves improv and even took some classes before she met me. I personally went to a couple practices for an improv group at CWRU when I was a super senior, but I decided I wasn't really that interested in it. I do appreciate the "Yes, And" mindset though.
Anyway, here's a brief history of the improv shows I've attended.
- Way back in December 2000, I went to a performance of a Cleveland improv group called Cabaret Dada down somewhere in the flats for aquamindy's birthday. I remember this more as being the first time I really interacted with Mandy (sparklie_lady) any significant amount than I do for the improv.
- For a hot minute, the legendary Chicago based improv group The Second City had a location in Cleveland. Early in 2003 my office had a night out there to see the show titled "For Those About to Iraq We Salute You." I believe it was at the Hanna Theater, but I may have made that up as my lists weren't that detailed back then. I brought my friend MJ as my guest. I remember that most of my colleagues were pretty unimpressed. That location went under pretty quickly; I remember it being less than a year and it might have been more like six months.
- By 2012, my sister was doing improv classes herself, so when we went to New York City that December she dragged me to see Upright Citizens Brigade. As I recall, someone from her high school summer theater group was a cast member, although I don't believe he was present that day. The show we saw was "DEATH BY ROO ROO: Your F'ed Up Family" and they did two acts. The first I don't recall at all. The second took an audience cue, which was "Double Dutch." It quickly became clear that the cast members had no idea that "Double Dutch" as a jump roping term, and they instead went into some convoluted piece about two identical Dutchmen who might have been twins. I don't remember clearly what happened, but I do remember laughing very, very hard. It's easily the best improv piece I've ever seen.
- In 2015, my parents and I actually got to see my sister perform with her first improv group. First we saw them do "improv at the park" in the Atlantic Station mall complex, and then the next night we saw them at Whole World Improv Theatre.
It was at my sister's two shows on back to back days that I realized that my problem with improv is less the genre or even the execution and talent (or lack thereof) of the performers. No, my problem is mostly with the audience. It seems like every improv show I went to that called for open suggestions from the audience got the same suggestions. For example, I've heard the request "Give me an accent" multiple times at my sister's shows, and Irish was the first one yelled out every time. I can do my own shitty Irish accent with bad Irish stereotypes behind, can we have something else? Pick pretty much any cue, and you the "normal" responses are the ones you hear the most often. Maybe improv groups should have a list of verboten answers that gets some kind of snarky response back to the crowd, in the same way that particularly professional bands have some kind of sarcastic response ready when someone shouts "Freebird!"
Speaking of Freebird!, the best response to Freebird! that I've ever heard is "Ah, Freebird. The mantra of the moron" from Glenn Hansard of the Swell Season. Glenn, of course, was in the movie Once, which inspired the musical Once, which my sister and I saw in NYC in 2012 on the same trip where we saw the Upright Citizens Brigade. Clearly this must mean something! It probably doesn't mean that I'm right about the audience being the problem with improv though, but if you happen to go to an improv show, I suggest having a few non-Irish languages saved up to yell for that cue. And no, Gaelic and Scottish don't count.