Beginning on Feb. 10, the Georgetown Improv Association produced two nights of unscripted, impromptu comedy that left the audience roaring with laughter. The improv troupe is quickly outgrowing its usual performance site in Bulldog Alley and made the move to Gaston Hall on Friday night to accommodate its larger-than-normal audience. ImprovFest is one of the oldest improv festivals in the country, and this year it featured Georgetown’s own improv troupe, as well as special guest, Upright Citizens Brigade. On the Feb. 11 show, The Ohio State University’s Eighth Floor Improv, WashingtonImprov Theater’s Season Six and University of Maryland’s The Bureau all made the journey to the Hilltop to participate in one of the most anticipated improv festivals of the year.
The second half of the Feb. 10 show featured the professional improv troupe Upright Citizens Brigade, whose alumni include talented comedians who have gone on to “Saturday Night Live” and “The Office.” This four-man troupe began its performance by calling up a member of the audience for a little chat about her life at Georgetown and abroad, but what the audience was not expecting was for the rest of their performance to be improvised from the information she gave them. No one in the Georgetown audience could refrain from laughing when the Citizens Brigade improvised a scene of a meth lab in a freshman dorm, complete with a goofy RA stopping by to welcome and inform the students that, “It’s college; there’s going to be a meth lab — just don’t let me see it.”
Georgetown’s improv troupe is successful because of its ability to connect with the audience. The Citizens Brigade was able to match them in this area through their informative questions and audience participation. Before you knew it, this new troupe was referencing the freshman dorms (New South), the weird seniors who decide to live on campus and other jokes unique to Georgetown life. This improvtroupe didn’t need much info to take off in an innovative, hilarious direction, always keeping the audience on its toes. Georgetown students all across campus now utilize a new method of hailing a taxi — “the tro-tro way” — in which you stick your back leg out and flail your wrist in the air just like the Ugandans apparently do.
Georgetown’s own improv troupe successfully evoked its fair share of laughter from its performance during the first half of the show. Improv is a difficult type of performance, but this troupe of Georgetown students were completely at home on the big stage, masters of a difficult art form. The quick wit and lively minds of the improv troupe allowed them to create scenes based on single words from the audience, such as “towel” or “chain.”
Georgetown’s improv troupe includes Hoyas from each class, including seniors Jed Feiman (COL ’12), Danny Hrebenak (SFS ’12), Sean Quigley (SFS ’12) and Daniel Thoennessen (COL ’12). Feiman did an excellent job directing, designing and producing this annual show, which was likely their most successful shows to date. The improv troupe performs once a month in Bulldog Alley, so for those who want to in on all the latest inside jokes on campus, there will be many more shows to come.
