On our last night at the Cornservatory a High School Student named Theresa attended our show and wrote a paper on her experience. Here is what she had to say:
At the Cornservatory in Chicago, every Saturday night at 10:30p.m., three random and local improvisational groups and a stand-up comedian showed what they had to offer in the Chemically Imbalanced Comedy’s Saturday Night Showcase. Although the show will not take place any longer at their beloved Cornservatory, there is no doubt that the show will still have its audience dying of laughter at its new home at their very own Chemically Imbalanced Theater in Chicago.
The Cornservatory itself is a quaint little theater, no larger than two classrooms put together, but in a good way. It fits about 50 people who are just there to have fun. One cannot miss this theater at all; there is a large sign reading “The Cornservatory” in funny print. But there also happens to be an oversized painting of fresh corn on the paint-chipped front door, giving audience members a chuckle even before the show started. Inside, there is a little front area with a desk where people, most likely some improv group members, working to help people get seated and make sure they bought a ticket. These people, including Angie McMahon and Mike Devine of the troupe 96 Decibels, were kind enough to give us money back when half of our original party of four could not attend. Past the curtain separating the stage and the front area, there are some rows of cushioned metal movie theater chairs and a little three-tiered stage with only two chairs on it. The walls were mostly painted black save for one, painted white with individual blue snowflakes, which can be covered if necessary. Another prop could be a mini-wall painted very curiously, with blocks of red, yellow, blue and green in some order placed in the center of each side. Many of the people who filed in past that wall, yet did not fill all fifty seats or so, were in their twenties and were acquaintances of the comedians or just friends in general who looked like they were there before instantly took a seat and opened up some pop most likely bought at the Jewel nearby. It was a very friendly atmosphere, for many people were just there for laughs, and I was instantly comfortable.
The show started out with a brief description by Angie of where the bathrooms were (in the back) and how we should not run onto the stage if there was a fire. She then introduced Robert Bucemi, the stand-up comedian who was to host that night. A very funny and talented man, Robert had very good jokes that made the room echo with laughter, including his jingle for a breakfast cereal called “Blueberry Morning.” He also had a joke saying everyone looked the same age, which was a compliment for my aunt and me. My aunt happens to be in her forties and I was the youngest person there (the show is not recommended for anyone under 13) and we were sitting in the second row with the first row empty at that time. He described how he met a girl on MapQuest and also read us his poem entitled “Love is a Fat, Crushing Bear.” Afterwards three improv groups preformed, including ClubGroupTeam, Bust, and 96 Decibels. Each took a suggestion from the audience and incorporated it easily with skits from the top of their heads. Some comments included “fur” and “buttsmoke.” Somehow, they got it to work.
The best part of the show was definitely the last group to perform, 96 Decibels, including Angie and Mike as stated earlier, along with Tom McMahon, Jay Gish, and, according to their website, www.cicomedy.com, Dave Walley, who I believe I did not see that night. They were the group given the suggestion “buttsmoke” and they had transformed it into a story about a butcher who smoked butts and a bar owner who did not like cigarette butt smoke, a mayor of a town, a girl who works at a bar. The mayor visits the bar to see the girl who works there and decides to fill up his own mug and he eventually gets drunk as leaves. He quickly comes back, saying he hit a man with his car. So the butcher, who was at the bar the whole time, goes out to take a look and comes back saying that the mayor was so drunk he didn’t realize it was a cat, and that he hit it with is bicycle. Thinking that there would be no political fallout, the mayor is relieved, that is, until he is sued by the owner of the cat as well as all the other cat-ladies in town. The debacle continues from there. Let me just say there is a duel, a death, and polish sausages. This group was really talented and interesting to listen to. They came up with different twists in their story to try to make the others fumble and it was hilarious to watch.
By the end of the show, I hadn’t realized that it was already past midnight. I was still laughing about all the jokes until three in the morning until I fell asleep, dead tired. After seeing this show I was amazed at the fact I never tried it out before and I am definitely going again, maybe even to some of their plays, at their new theater. It was an awesome show and I have a lot of memories from it that are absolutely wonderful. It also helped me feel more connected to the people around me including my aunt and I was really happy about that. The show was definitely something different than “Whose Line”, which I thought it would be like. Unlike the television show, I had no doubts about that the show was not practiced for and there were no hoe-downs. Improv, especially at the Cornservatory, really brings people together and makes them laugh and relieve stress. Especially in a world today that is constricted by negativity, it is important to just have a good laugh one in a while. The Saturday Night Showcase helps with the laughter a lot. It’s nice to just kick back, relax, and laugh with complete strangers who share the same sense of humor that you do.