PROMISE

Found on the back wall of the Improv Club's building. What's the guarantee?

           

PHENOMINALLY MEXICANA

More from Heraldo at the improv festival. The show was almost non-stop movement, which helped overcome the language issue. I've been to a half dozen Spanish speaking countries and know a bit about the considerable differences in diction. To my ear, Mexicans speak very quickly, making it harder for me to follow. Costa Rica, the Hispanic country where I've spent the most time, has a more leisurely pace. The cast threw in a few clues in English - one bit was based on the Dancing With Stars TV show. The show proved that for us humans, funny transcends language.         

SPANISH IMPROV FOR ANGLO AUDIENCES

The headline act at the improv festival last weekend was a group from Chicago called Heraldo. They performed in Spanish with a bit of English here and there to set the direction. I got maybe 15% of the Spanish. There was lots of physical comedy. I don't think the audience was very Hispanic but they couldn't stop laughing. More of this tomorrow.      

IN THE GREEN ROOM

Off line again for a couple of days due to way too much work. You would think that after 45 years of doing essentially the same job the world would cut me some slack, but no.          

There is usually a place in a theater called the green room, a place for performers to hang out and relax before and after their time on stage. It was traditionally painted green but now it's anything the house wants. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_room . My friend Pete who managed the improv festival said I could go in and bother people, so I did. As usual, I didn't write down the name of this group. It's probably too small to read in this image but note the sign on the left of the second picture. It instructs the show hosts not to address the audience as ladies and gentlemen and offers some alternatives. I don't think there are a lot of ladies and gentlemen at improv clubs anyway.

MAKE IT UP AS YOU GO ALONG

I've shot improv a couple of times before but Friday night's shows were the funniest ever. Would that I had as many arms and hands as Vishnu so I could take notes while I'm shooting. It's hard to remember what the action was about (although I think the top one was a dying dog). My friends from Compass Improv will remind us of the names of the groups.  

       

BACK IN THE LOU - COMPASS IMPROV FESTIVAL

There is a lively improv comedy scene in STL. One of the annual events I shoot is the Compass Improv Festival, taking place this weekend at the Improv Shop. There are more performances tonight, Saturday, but I have another obligation. Locals - GO! It's just a little hard to find, sort on tucked in behind the White Castle at Vandeventer and Chouteau.

Lots more images to come.         

Sing Along

The last performance at the improv festival was led by Laura and Rick Hall, professional comedians who appear on the popular TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?  They enlisted a number of performers from other groups and non-professionals who had taken their workshop earlier in the day.

One of their techniques was to take an idea from the audience, turn it into a song title and require the performers to make up a couple of lines on the spot, then pass it down the line. To no one's surprise, the content of the songs veered off in strange directions. A lot of pressure on those onstage but the audience loved it.    

More Of The Same, Or Not

Some of the other people in the large Burnside improv troupe. I think there were nine of them in all.  Obviously done for fun, not profit. Not all of them were on stage together until the end of the show,but those who were got an aerobic workout.  

In Tonight's Line-Up

I'm going to post a few shots of each of the six acts I photographed. The upside of this is that I can get some good visuals of moments that go by so quickly the audience may not notice them. The bad news is that I often pay more attention to what I see than what I hear, sometimes losing the essence of the comedy. Oh well. Ars gratia artis. 

This is a local group called Burnside. No idea about the significance of the name. There were nine of them (hard to make a buck), but that made for interesting combinations. May bring them back tomorrow.     

The Audience For Improv

There was a large, good-looking and youngish crowd at the Improv Shop, although I was be no means the oldest there. (I was in the competition, though.) There was a bar, of course, serving tall cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon - PBR, the hipster beer of choice. It used to be really cheap, but now that it's cool it isn't anymore. People keep buying it for its déclassé chic. 

Other people were more interested in their phone menu than the one at the bar. Nevertheless, MC Pete Papavlasopopulous says it's all A-OK.

Compass Improv Festival

Some of the People I know from the STL Fringe Festival do improv comedy. One of them, Pete Papavlasopopulous, works with Compass Improv, a very active company that just held a three-day festival. I had no idea how widespread the local improv scene is. The festival was held at the Improv Shop, a venue dedicated to the genre.

Pete invited me to shoot some of the festival. I couldn't make it all but photographed six of the acts on Friday and Saturday night. This group is Max A/C from Chicago. I can't explain what they were doing. You had to be there.