A TimeOut Chicago blog entry from yesterday mentions a few people you may know. . .
Chicago Improv Festival: Ghost Town ‘09
Posted in Comedy by Jason Heidemann on April 20th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
In the same way that Ebenezer Scrooge can’t bear the sight of his younger self in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, I felt haunted by the ghost of improv past at this year’s Chicago Improv Festival. On Saturday night, for example, I was buying gum at the Walgreen’s on the corner of Belmont and Broadway, when, who should I see hobbling in front of me on crutches, but David Razowsky, stellar improviser and ensemble member for the very first improvised show I ever saw (Second City’s U-raq, I Break, also starring Amy Sedaris, Ken Campbell and Jackie Hoffman) way back in 1991. Was that really 18 years ago, I wondered? Seconds later, I’m turning the corner and who should pass me but former Chicago improviser Kevin Dorff—writer for Late Night With Conan O’Brien and recently starring in Adult Swim’s oddball mafia comedy Delocated.
But therein lies part of the joy of the Chicago Improv Festival. Over the course of seven days, the city’s current crop of talent collides with the legends, and the whole shebang is augmented by the out-of-town troupes who wash up on the shores of Lake Michigan and prove that improv isn’t exclusive to the city of big shoulders. In truth, I didn’t see as many shows as I would have liked. A packed work week meant that I was constantly ping-ponging between the fest and other obligations. I managed a half a dozen or so shows over the weekend.
The late-night main stage program on Friday night was Boom Chicago Alumni paired with Oui Be Negroes. I was disappointed with the Oui Be Negroes show. I was expecting a fast-paced half hour of pointed political satire that poked fun at racial tensions in America, but this was only ever hinted at and mostly the material was ho-hum. Boom Chicago, an Amsterdam-based troupe that I managed to catch while visiting the Netherlands back in 1995, trotted out Ike Barinholtz and Jordan Peele for this reunion show. Noteworthy Chicagoans like Dave Asher and Joe Canale, among others, were similarly in attendance. This game-prov-laden show was a joy. While it was admittedly high on zingers and low on substance, that was just fine considering its late-night time slot. In one memorable instance, Peele and Canale started a scene based on the audience one-liner, “I masturbated to you today.” Typically, sex-based suggestions are the worst, but Peele and Canale cleverly turned it into a raunchy exchange between President Obama and Keith Olbermann (you can probably figure out who was masturbating to whom).
On Saturday, I managed to see Pimprov coupled with L.A.-based Doubtful Guests as well as Canada’s Impromptu Splendor! Pimprov was in fine form and it nailed the political satire I was hoping for in Oui Be Negroes, although I do have to admit that these guys are such talented improvisers and comics that they can probably stand to drop the pimp gimmick. As a coworker of mine pointed out, wasn’t the whole pimp thing trendy, like, six years ago? Still, Marz Timms was in fine form and led the troupe through some totally funny bits. The Doubtful Guests were nimble, exhilarating and totally strange. Admittedly, brainy long-form like this probably shouldn’t be slated for a late-night slot, but these Victorian-era troublemakers possess a formidable know-how of the craft. Watching former Chicago improviser Todd Stashwick pantomime loading a 19th-century rifle and blowing his brains out was mesmerizing.
Impromptu Splendor! totally caught me off guard and turned out to be the real winner of the weekend. Unlike most American improv troupes that leap out onto the stage—energy level cranked well past Red Bull levels—in an attempt to whip the audience into a frenzy, this Toronto-based troupe politely walked out and explained that they are an experimental improv group that performs fully improvised one-act plays each week based on a different playwright. When they revealed that they’d chosen contemporary French-Canadian playwright Michel Trembly as their playwright du jour, I admit I initially felt ripped off. What?! Who the fuck is that? The whole joy in this form of improv is that we audience members get to watch how cleverly the troupe apes a known playwright’s style. What good is it if you pick someone obscure to most Americans? But they totally won me over. Equal parts funny and tragic, and aided with the help of improv legend Joe Flaherty, these guys proved themselves to be brave, brainy and incredibly agile. Plus, they instantly moved Trembly to the top of my reading list.
One regret is that I didn’t get to see enough young troupes (If you did, please leave your comments here; I’d love to hear them). My other lament is that crowds weren’t more robust. I don’t think any of the Lakeshore shows I saw were sold out, and my feeling was that audiences tended toward industry insiders. But as long as the CIF is a place where I can find the ghosts of Chicago’s comedy past, present and future all in one place, I know I’ll keep coming back.
Direct link: http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/out-and-about/2009/04/chicago-improv-festival-ghost-town-09/
