Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 2000)
(From left to right) Luke Hamilton, Quinn Mattfeld and Sabrina Bernasconi ham it up on stage during a recent evening of improvisational comedy. The troupe now performs Friday and Saturday nights at Charley’s. By Sara Jarrett Oregon Daily Emerald An impressive collection of posters hang on the comedy club’s walls: Char lie Chaplin, Charlie Brown and Charlie’s Angels. A “Hot Shots! Part Deux” poster with a menacing Charlie Sheen pulling back the string of a bow-and-arrow aimed straight at the crowd highlights the center stage. His biceps bulge below his squinted eyes, which are surrounded by wrinkled camou flage makeup, haphazardly smeared on his face. Underneath his image is the phrase “Just Deux It.” This silly backdrop seems to create the perfect environment for Charley’s in downtown Eugene. The bar/restaurant plays host to myriad traveling stand-up comedians, as well as the local improvisa tion comedy group, Absolute Improv. Spender Whitted, owner of both Charley’s and Rock ‘n’ Rodeo, a honky tonk next door, said he opened his business two years ago because it was an entertainment opportunity that no one else was doing downtown. And there seems to be a reason for that, on the stand-up acts’ side of things at least. Charley’s stopped booking travel ing comedians altogeth er in favor of Absolute Improv. The group, now in its fourth year of existence, draws in 20 percent more patrons than individual acts do, Whitted said. Beginning this week end, instead of just performing on Friday nights, Absolute Improv takes the stage both Friday and Saturday nights at 8:30 p.m. for a $5 cover charge. Three women and three men from the 13-member troupe performed Jan. 21 to a packed house — an energetic, mostly col lege-aged crowd. Good thing, too, because what makes the troupe stand out from most other comedy outfits is its interactiveness with the audience. Before each skit, the members ask the crowd to yell out answers to questions like, “What location are we in?” or “What pro fession do [we] practice?” Other troupe suggestions include, “Name a topic that should get more news coverage” or “Name a catastrophic event.” Just about anything yqu can imagine is a possible subject mat ter. Improv comedy thrives on a captivated audience. This form of entertainment is “completely on the spot — fully made up in front of the audience’s eyes and fully based on audience suggestions,” Michael Govier, original member and the group’s current organizer, said. “You never know what you’re gonna get.” While this is generally the truth, the troupe agrees that they have heard cer tain answers more than enough times. People in the audience think it’s funny when they yell out things like “hemor rhoids, diarrhea ... and other potty humor,” troupe members agreed while talking in their dressing room after the show. The repetition factor is the most daunting task of an improv comedy group. If members are constantly giv en the same topics from the audience, how do the skits remain fresh? “We try to get differ ent suggestions by com ing up with new ways of asking them,” one mem ber said. For example, sometimes they will change their approach to asking for three words that begin with a certain letter in stead of asking for a specific answer. During the skit “Wish it Were in the News,” for in Iv- stance, the group asked the audience to yell out words Absolute Improv gains a bigger following and is rewarded with an extra evening of stage time to elicit laughs from audiences at Charley’s Restaurant and Bar that begin with the letter D. From the ca cophony that ensued, they managed to cre ate a farcical news story about Celine Dion, the dog diva. Drawing the most raucous reaction from the crowd that particular night was the skit “Hesita tion,” which took place in side Secretary of State Madeline Albright’s womb (an audience suggestion). One actor fluttered around the stage with his arms pinned to his sides, letting his hands flap. “I’m Made line Albright’s egg,” he said. Another actor then came piercing into the scene. He was the sperm. The dia logue that followed was nothing compared to the bizarre place they were supposed to be swimming in. Not every skit was that hilarious, though. During “30 Second Stand-Up,” the troupe bombed pretty hard. The point was to perform 30 seconds of stand-up comedy, joking about different topics the audience yelled out. This exercise seems incredibly hard, so it’s no surprise that jokes such as “What’s up with the Backdoor Boys — we know what’s going on there,” and “Kris Kringle in the house — ever go down the chimney and the bitch ain’t got no cookies?” came out. The sketches could have been funnier however, if only the . I audience had offered more interesting ideas. During “Fixed Expression,” for in stance, the location presented was a bin go hall. One must ask, how do you make playing bingo funny? Despite drawbacks related to the audi ence aspect, Ab solute Improv con sists of intelligent people wno are wen equipped to think on their feet. They have knowledge of a plethora of trivial and important topics, and the members are naturally funny. The show is hit-and-miss, though. You never know what you’re going to get from skit to skit. • Words to the wise: get to Charley’s early and sit in the front, stay away from the mundane potty humor, and think about in triguing topics to yell out before going. Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald (From left to right) Tyler Boeh, Sabrina Bernasconi and Quinn Mattfeld carry out an improv skit.
