Austin Improv

What are your favorite formats to perform in? What are your favorites to watch?

I like to do Electric Bill, but it also makes me really nervous. I also like doing the play rehearsal format we did with p-graph. OH, and week in weird places stuff was always great, particularly the walking/van tours. Man, we did a lot of fun formats back in the day. Many didn't work, but they were still fun. I loved our big tech-heavy shows. Ohhhh, so many formats we did. What fun, what fun.

I really liked what TKN did (i think two OOBs ago). When they took something someone didn't like about themselves and showed what that persons life would be like without it. Very - It's A Wonderful Life.... I'll never forget "THINder-thighs". And Ace told me about a Gravy show I wish I hadn't missed where they took a historical event and played in a world in which it had never happened.

What fun. What fun.

For a real CUTTING EDGE new format, check out SCISSOR, Chris Trew's and my new show with a format never seen before.

It's a mix between "TJ and Dave" with "Pete and Paul Explain it All" with a huge degree of difficulty and fun thrown on the top of it... if that's even plausible.

Premieres Friday night at 10PM at The Waffle Fest at The Hideout.

BE THERE!!

[NIGHT RIDER THEME SONG]

You guys hate formats, huh? Ok, well one time I saw American Dream do a format called Piero is Sleeping where Piero just went out and went to sleep at the back of the stage and all the scenes were in whispers and stuff cuz "Piero is Sleeping".

There's also a sketch show that was near my place in Chicago called "Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind". They would have like 80% new material every week or something like that. And all the sketches (they called them "Plays") were hung up as numbers and the audience yelled out the number they wanted to see and they did 30 plays in 60 minutes. I think. That was cool. And now....

What formats do y'all like?

The Neo-Futurists were absolutely gut-tingling brilliant. I must insist that anyone ever going to Chicago ever should see them. The late-night 30 play/60 minute is their signature form but they do full-length prime-time shows as well.

Seriously, I'd stake my reputation and my dog on them.

DollarBill wrote: There's also a sketch show that was near my place in Chicago called "Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind". They would have like 80% new material every week or something like that. And all the sketches (they called them "Plays") were hung up as numbers and the audience yelled out the number they wanted to see and they did 30 plays in 60 minutes. I think. That was cool.

Too Much Light is rockstar awesome. ColdTowne is going to do something similar with a new sketches every week type of thing.

I'm a huge fan of the Armando format. It feels nice to do and it feels nice to watch. I'll fight those who have opinions that don't match mine!

I'm also a monster fan of P-Graph's After School Improv. Riot times 555555555555555.

Dark Bloodlords - Choose Your Own Adventure

Super fun to play in. I've never sat in the audience for one of the shows though.

I have a fun road trip format mostly fleshed out that hasn't been done yet...

...but my favorite at this point...hmmm...I loved the elevator format that Gravy did a couple of years ago...

People get on an elevator at differnt floors until the elevator is jam-packed and then the elevator gets stuck. Scenes spiral out from the conversations everyone has while being stuck. I remember Lamb in boxers, Shannon's awesome character who came in in the clutch moment and helped a triple become an inside-the-park homerun...I remember Joplin having a breathing apparatus in his "briefcase." Mikey was the elvator operator...perhaps the first show of Mikey's I ever saw.

I'm a sucker for a speed harold...but that backwards harold sounds even better.

HerrHerr wrote:...but my favorite at this point...hmmm...I loved the elevator format that Gravy did a couple of years ago...

People get on an elevator at differnt floors until the elevator is jam-packed and then the elevator gets stuck. Scenes spiral out from the conversations everyone has while being stuck. I remember Lamb in boxers, Shannon's awesome character who came in in the clutch moment and helped a triple become an inside-the-park homerun...I remember Joplin having a breathing apparatus in his "briefcase." Mikey was the elvator operator...perhaps the first show of Mikey's I ever saw.

This sounds like an wonderful, slow format. Kinda similar to the interview format/exercise. Or at least, I can picture it being similar in tone.

HerrHerr wrote:I remember Lamb in boxers, Shannon's awesome character who came in in the clutch moment and helped a triple become an inside-the-park homerun...I remember Joplin having a breathing apparatus in his "briefcase." Mikey was the elvator operator...perhaps the first show of Mikey's I ever saw.

That was a fun show. I keep trying to get people to do a twist on that format. Everyone starts out riding on an elephant (instead of an elevator) and then we spin off and see their stories.

DollarBill wrote:That was a fun show. I keep trying to get people to do a twist on that format. Everyone starts out riding on an elephant (instead of an elevator) and then we spin off and see their stories.

I love elephants (ask anyone in Pgraph) and would gladly do this format.

kbadr wrote:

DollarBill wrote:That was a fun show. I keep trying to get people to do a twist on that format. Everyone starts out riding on an elephant (instead of an elevator) and then we spin off and see their stories.

I love elephants (ask anyone in Pgraph) and would gladly do this format.

I am only moderately fond of elephants and I would *still* do this format.

I was kissed by an elephant one time.

I really loved Zombie'prov and Persona 'Prov with Bridgeport was pretty fucking awesome.
Improvised After School Specials play to my strengths while the Blind Harold AKA The Bat was some challenging fun.
The 1960s Batman Episode parody format was almost a dream come true.
Choose Your Own Adventure always has me out of breath by the end (like a real adventure!).

Some day I hope to perform my creation, "Opening Night at the Burton Community Theater".
I'd also love to do longform after the style of certain playwrights, a Harry Potter format, and an extended 1960's Batman run.

Hands on a Hard Body

Just like the documentary. You have, say, the last eight players of a hard body contest with their hands on the 'truck." Then you spiral off into scenes from these characters' lives. As the show goes on, players start losing in the contest (though the players must leave the main scene, they can always still play in other scenes).

In the end, there is one exhausted player who has won the "truck."