Tag Archives: the friday society

Spectacles and ImprovCity

I saw some more improv this weekend! Friday after going dancing, we went to STAGEStheatre to watch Laugh Chance and The Friday Society. They were both really funny. Laugh Chance is the team that chooses games randomly. It’s a pretty great way of making the show different than other improv teams without really having to change much. I also wonder how much knowing what games you’re about to play helps a player. Maybe it’s a bigger change than I think. The Friday Society was very entertaining as well. I was pretty sleepy the first time I saw them, so it was nice to stay awake for it. gem didn’t drink coffee, and she struggled a little. Hopefully I’ll be back for more Spectacles in two weeks.

Last night I saw ImprovCity’s Cubed Comedy Matches. The night consisted of three teams of three with each team consisting two ImprovCity members and one of their high school students. The students were definitely talented! It seemed like a really great opportunity for them. I’m starting to get a feel for more of the players, which just makes it funnier as I learn their personalities. They had a particularly great town meeting, but I also liked when one performer decided to be the Bible’s Joseph for an advice game.

There was also a raffle for various prizes such as bread, games of bowling, passes to Boomer’s, and ImprovCity tickets. The biggest prizes were signed artwork by local artist Ryan Eduad. Guess who won? Well, quite a few people because there were a number of gifts, but what I care about is that I won as well! I won a print called The Soul Collector. Feel free to click the link to check it out.

OC Improv Fest night one

Last night was the first night of the OC Improv Fest at the STAGEStheatre. It was a lot of fun even if I had to stay up later than I intended. We saw Improv Shmimprov, Cherry Spitz, Improv Revolution, Fart Jar, Comedy Kaze, Improvfessionals, and The Friday Society. The OC Improv Fest is three nights of comedy featuring most comedy troupes in Orange County and some from out of town! Each team plays for a half hour. Thursday night was 8:00 to 11:30.

OC Improv Festival 2013

The first team, Improv Shmimprov, was my favorite. I’ve seen twice previously back in 2005. I can’t believe it’s been eight years! Some Live Nude People graduates moved on to Improv Shmimprov, which is why I saw their show in the first place.

They were hysterical, and their host said my sweater was quite dapper! Thank you! You can see them in the photo above. I particularly liked the person second from the left in the photo who was very funny (but as I wrote what he said I realized it was a bit too graphic to post). I also enjoyed the person to his right who pretended to be Saddam.

OC Improv Festival 2013

My second favorite team, shown here, was Cherry Spitz. First, check out the one guy’s hair. Glorious! The girl in that photo was so great. In one skit, she played a mountain. She was the best mountain I’ve ever seen!

Next was Improv Revolution. I have to admit that I think I was a bit biased. I found out that they’re from UCI. Why does UCI have two teams? Why wasn’t Live Nude People here if iRev was? Argh!

Also, two of their members just weren’t funny at all. In fact, they were bothersome. I did, however, enjoy their longform improv about the bounty hunter type person from the Gap.

The rest of the teams were all pretty funny. My only complaint is about the Improvfessionals. While funny, their host, Austin Floyd, berated the audience when he got suggestions he didn’t like. There’s no reason to do that. If you don’t like a suggestion, wait for another one. For some people, it takes guts to even speak up. I saw him in the Improv to the Future show and really liked him, but now my opinion of him has plummeted. He asked for a relationship between two people, and the suggestion was “strangers.” even if he hated that suggestion, which was fine in my opinion, he could have easily just used another.

The last team, The Friday Society, featured some people I had seen in earlier groups. They were definitely great, but their scenes were hard to follow because I had trouble staying awake. What can I say? I don’t usually stay up to 11:30!

My friend Alex Foster is a member of The Friday Society but didn’t perform that night. Luckily I’ll see him tonight with a different group, Puppet Mayhem.

And now I should stop blogging because it’s time for night two!