F ebruary
I0VIERTABVME2VT
18, 2004
T he C lackamas P rint
• 7
Local troupe makes Fridays fun
Faye Dodds
T he C lackamas P rint
One of the funniest, most gut
splitting events in P-Town that
anyone could possibly end up a
participant of is simply identified
as “ComedySportz.”
Most people haven’t experi
enced comedy as a sport, nor have
they encountered sports that
involve comedy—unless tennis
counts. This all must change.
Here is a proposal of an entire
ly new Monday night event ...
only; one might find him or herself
out in the cold and rain if they
went on a Monday. But the laughs
provided on a Friday or Saturday
will last through Monday night and
beyond.
Snuggled neady into a small
building at 1963 Kearney Street in
Portland
is
the
lovely
ComedySportz Arena, as it is
called. Anyone can enjoy the night
of their life; and potential week
long lung and stomach ailments,
after attending an event. Shows are
scheduled for Friday nights at 8
p.m. and Saturday nights at 7 and 9
p.m. Attendees should be prepared
to call 9-1-1 in the event that
laughing too hard causes some
one’s ticker to fail.
Following Friday night shows,
at around 10 p.m. they feature a
“free-wheeling and long-form
improv ¿nd sketch,” for further
entertainment.
Usually, two teams of “comedi
ans” face off in events very similar
to the television show “Who’s Line
is it Anyway?’’ A referee awards
points and keeps subject matter
within boundaries of offending
people. Shows are considered an
interactive improvisational experi
ence and aufiience suggestions are
a gas, sometimes literally.
The
troupe’s
website,
www.comedysportz.com
describes an average live show as
“interactive, hilarious, different,
clean, fool-proof, fast-paced, posi
tive and fun.” To that, they offer a
guarantee which over 2,000 past
performances can support.
ComedySportz. often focuses
on entertaining college students.
Performances have been located at
many campuses nationwide,
including Georgetown University,
Brigham Young University, Duke
University, UCLA, Stanford
University and many more.
Tacoma (Wash.) Community
College called a recent perform
ance a “slam dunk chuckle fest!”
Another opportunity offered
by ComedySportz is classes. Their
classes use comedy to focus on
team-building among major cor
porations. Businesses such as
Apple, AT&T, Kaiser-Permanente,
Kinko’s, Microsoft, Oscar Meyer,
Pillsbury, Union Pacific and the
White House Communications
Office have all stumbled upon the
benefits of ComedySportz, not
only for the team-building pro
gram but for entertainment and
fun as well.
The Portland' location of
ComedySportz has been perform
ing since 1993. National competi
tions are held as well, where 18
teams from various U.S. cities
compete for a national title of
comedy. Portland brought home
the award in 1999 and has been
keeping up with the competition
ComedySportz’s special brand of improvisational humor is guaranteed to leave its
audience in stitches well into Monday night. Don’t let the laughter interfere with work.
ever since, hence the growing fan
population.
On Feb. 13-14, the Pordand
chapter featured a quite historical
(or perhaps hysterical) version of
the “Battle of the Sexes.”
Monday nights carf still be
spent thumbing through the deli
cate pages of Ladies Home
Journal or even something grand
pa can go to, like bowling. But the
only way to make sure Friday’s
paycheck is well spent is by attend
ing ComedySportz in Portland.
For reservations call (503) 236-8888.
Audience crazed leaves band unphased at The Aladdin
Jadon Triplett
T he C lackamas P rint
Pop-punkers Mest played
Portland at the Aladdin Theater
last Tuesday night, keeping the
kids jumping pogo-style.
The band played a great set,
sticking to their more punk
numbers and completely forsak
ing the two songs that brought
them closest to mainstream
recognition in the past: “What’s
the Dillio” and. “Mother’s
Prayer.”
The highlight of
some idiot climbed onto the
stage at the end of one of their
songs arid decided to dive onto
the crowd. Just as the moron
was about to run and jump,
Mest lead singer/guitarist Tony
Lovato told him to wait until
the next song started.
He
explained he was going to count
to 1-2-3 ... and then the guy ran
to jump again, and
barely stopped in
time
when
Lovato yelled,
“Wait!”
When Mest finally started the
song, the guy ran, jumped and
hit nothing but floor when the
crowd parted to let him get
what he deserved.
As far as songs go, the best
the band performed included
“Rooftops,” “Hotel Room,”
“F*** the Greyhound Bus,”
“Yesterday,” “Jaded,” “Cadillac”
and ‘‘F***** Up Kid.” The
band dedicated the last of these
to “every person who is in a
band of their own, and music is
your life.”
Before Mest took the stage,
Fallout Boy played a tight 40
minutes of emo-pop. While
this band played a good set,
what really stole the show had
nothing to do with the music
whatsoever.
About
halfway
through
Fallout Boy’s set, two girls
crowd-surfed to the' stage. The
first girl grabbed the second as
they were about to head off
stage and immediately com
menced in an intense display of
mouth-to-mouth action. It was
one of those random, unexpect
ed moments that make a simple,
pop punk' show a night to
remember.
After the show, Mest drum
mer Nick Gigler was signing
autographs by the merchandise
table. When I went over there
I noticed a homemade CD enti
tled “Starving Artist” by some
Sargo's !
Subs j
Simply The Best
one called Stomach Ache. This
turned out to be Gigler’s solo
rap debut, featuring songs about
food, Nintendo, and his cell
phone. I was curious about it,
so I asked Gigler to rap the
song about Nintendo. He did,
and it was, for lack of a better
word, the shiznit. Look for a
review in a future issue.
Mest may be little more than
corporate pop punk in the vein
of Good Charlotte and Simple
Plan, and I may only be giving
this a good review because two
girls happened to swap saliva,
but the show rocked. This
show gets 3 out of 4 stars from
me because it was a great all-
around experience.
Buy this Honey Mustard [
Chicken Sub With
Bacon
■
EggjjCBSso Bar ■
(formerly Pogy’s Subs) J
1630 Beavercreek Rd. | , I
Oregon City» OR 97045
Z?' 5(503) 655-9070 <
INTERNET PHOTO
The lads of Mest (from left: Nick Gigler, Matt Lovato,
Tony Lovato and Jeremiah Rangel) rocked The Aladdin.
■
I
• No Cash Value
• One Per Party
• Not To Be Combined With Any Other Offer
• Must be present
• Must Have Your Student or Faculty ID card
Valid Only At Thia Location expires February 24, 2004