Austin Improv

I *know* Second City TourCo came to my high school and I went to the show, but I don't remember the improv, at least it made no impression on me. Maybe I just thought it was more sketches?

A friend told me I should audition for ComedySportz, so I went to see a show the day before I did. TO DATE that is still probably the worst ComedySportz show I ever saw. It was Halloween so they were in costume and they couldn't decide whether to play as themselves or play as their costumed character, it was very clumsy. I thought, "Oh, this is no problem" and had the most relaxed audition of my life.

So no.
I didn't really see any improv or take any classes until the day before I became a mainstage improvisor.

smerlin wrote:ps- I'm so tickled that I was in several people's first improv shows they say. I was even in Los Paranoias at the Velveeta Room back in the day.

Not only were you the in first improv show I ever saw, you were also interviewed in the first article about improv I ever read. Now if you were only the first improviser I'd ever slept with you'd have the hat trick.

The first improv show I ever saw was...

a stand-up show at a comedy club in Santa Monica (early 1990s; not Laugh Factory, not Comedy Store, hm...) while attending college at USC. The last set, after all the other stand-ups, was a group of LA character actors (whose names I can't remember, but who I distinctly remember were staring in sitcoms or playing secondary rolls in films). It was shockingly fun. I remember thinking, "Why weren't these guys the opening act???!!" The one game they played that I remember was "Directed Story". A year later, Tom Booker and I unknowingly ALMOST crossed paths when my friends and I discussed going to see his production of "The Brady Bunch".

Also, saw some USC Theater students doing improv on the grass in the "quad". Only thing I remember was them doing an improvised "Death By..." scene. Fav was "Death By Admissions" where the players grew old and died while waiting in line.

It was Get Up! at the Hideout. Shana and Shannon did an Amazon adventure story that turned into a virtual reality piece. That got me hooked.

smerlin wrote:ps- I'm so tickled that I was in several people's first improv shows they say. I was even in Los Paranoias at the Velveeta Room back in the day.

You make people want to do it!

My first show was After School Improv at the Hideout!

I can't recall exactly what the suggestion was.

Reading through old AIC threads.

The first time I saw Firth and Arjet I was gigged. It was the fact that they told a story from nothing with a clear beginning, a middle and an end. Honest characters and depth of story.

Whoa, thread necromancy

Stayed for two shows on Saturday at Coldtowne.

Achatina! Achatina! opened up for Boy Toy. One of the few shows I still remember large chunks of, Drew messed up and said "business shoot shopping" and that became a thing (a business shoot was a jetpack, basically). Also lots of side support with a lazy son living in his parent's treehouse. Really solid show. Boy Toy did a nice Harold, though I can only piece together the ending where it was a callback to dropping acid and various deities that cropped up in the show.

I stayed for Cagematch which was Bad Boys against Dancy Street D'Orchestra. That was probably one of the few times I've seen a show just end without waiting for a good out, with Danny screaming on top of a chair. And to be fair to DSD, I still can at least recall vaguely the opening song about Sal's answering machine as my brain short-circuited seeing musical improv for the first time outside of Whose Line. It was a solid evening of shows to start out with.

Yeah! Let's start adding to his thread again!

My first show was at UCB in New York sometime in 2008 or 2009. Scott (or Seth?) Adsit from 30 Rock was performing. I was so amazed at how they managed to agree on the "what comes next?" Without consulting each other. I now know some of the language and techniques of improv, but even if I think back over that show in terms of what I've learned, I am just still so impressed. They were great, great!

I got to see a student show at Second City in Chicago in 2008. All I remember was a mock singer-songwriter duo who sang very poignantly about muffin tops - the roll of fat above the jeans. "Muffin top, muffin top, I got a girl with a muffin top..." I can still hear the song.

In Austin, the first show I saw was Firth and Arget in Always a Bridesmaid. Soon after, I started attending Comedy Sportz at Cafe Caffeine regularly. Once I started taking lessons, the first show I saw was Junk at SVT. They did a bell finger. Sean Hill played a stuffed bear, Andy an English royal, and Troy, a killer shark fin. That's when unwashed hooked.

Speaking of Comedy Sportz, do they have a new venue yet? There are a few people I never or very, very rarely see at all in the larger improv community since CS folded at Cafe Caffeine, but I wish we could see more of them. I'm thinking of my favorite performer, Spencer, and also a middle aged gentleman with a white beard. Do you know them? Where are they performing? Also, for those who don't tend to like improv games, you really need to seen Austin's Comedy Sportz team. They are full of energy and hustle, and they know how to double down on an offer. They are really, really strong.

My first improv show was at Rice University by Spontaneous Combustion. They were so quick and witty --plus they had matching black shirts. Sarah Pitre (Henri Mazza's finance) was in it, and I remember thinking, "Wow, I could never do what they do."

My first AIC show was some sort of two person thing with Kareem and Andy. Andy threw out a chair, but it was unclear if he was starting a scene or just moving the chair. Kareem looked at him for a second, and then you knew, "Oh wow, they are going to make a scene with this chair thing." I thought that was pure magic.

My first show may have been Confidence Men playing Women with Confidence at SVT. Lauren Zinn was the guest. April 8, 2010. I don't remember who the opening act was! I had recently run into Jeff after several years, and he'd told me about improv and Confidence Men, so I went to see a show. I was impressed.

The next week, I saw what turned out to be Maestro. Don't remember much about it, but do remember seeing Kristin Firth, Kacey Samiee, and Kareem Badr for the first time.

And I know I saw the level 4 showcase for Chelley Pyatt's class. I have no idea who I saw, besides Chelley, that night, or if it was before or after that Confidence Men show. Having trouble finding the show in old calendars... Chelley, when did you graduate level 4?

In any event, the show that I think brought home that I really wanted to do improv for the rest of my life was the second Confidence Men show I saw, the one-year Conniversary on June 12, 2010. Ken Webster guest-starred, several students (including Chelley) got to go up and do scenes, Southpaw Jones played. It was a amazing. The way I remember it, I signed up for classes the next day, and I'll stick by that until Andy checks his records. Which I don't see him doing.

I never even knew they did improv in Austin. My first show was a Friday night Spectacle. Saw a visiting troupe from Dallas and then Pgraph's Eris show. Took my first level one class the very next day with Roy!

My first was a show at Boom Chicago in Amsterdam back in either 2003 or 2004. It was a sketch/improv mix and it blew me away.

I didn't see another improv show until after I signed up for classes at Coldtowne. (And it was Coldtowne.)

Brad Hawkins wrote: In any event, the show that I think brought home that I really wanted to do improv for the rest of my life was the second Confidence Men show I saw, the one-year Conniversary on June 12, 2010. Ken Webster guest-starred, several students (including Chelley) got to go up and do scenes, Southpaw Jones played. It was a amazing. The way I remember it, I signed up for classes the next day, and I'll stick by that until Andy checks his records. Which I don't see him doing.

Brad,

You signed up for Level one on Friday, Jun 4, 2010.

Roy Janik wrote:

Brad Hawkins wrote: In any event, the show that I think brought home that I really wanted to do improv for the rest of my life was the second Confidence Men show I saw, the one-year Conniversary on June 12, 2010. Ken Webster guest-starred, several students (including Chelley) got to go up and do scenes, Southpaw Jones played. It was a amazing. The way I remember it, I signed up for classes the next day, and I'll stick by that until Andy checks his records. Which I don't see him doing.

Brad,

You signed up for Level one on Friday, Jun 4, 2010.

My birthday!