Improv In Person

Last night I had the opportunity to be in the audience for an improvisational comedy show presented by a local improv group. "Happy Gas" is the name of the 20 member troupe made up of students from Western Kentucky University. This is their "official" group photo from their Facebook page. 

Improv is a unique brand of comedy. It takes talent,  spontaneity, quick on your feet thinking and comedic timing. 

These days most people know improv comedy from the show "Who's Line Is It Anyway" hosted by Drew Carey that ran on ABC from 1998 until 2007. 

Carey and his team of "regulars" : Ryan Stiles, Wayne Brady, and Collin Mochrie showed America what improv comedy can be at it's best. 

For many years improv groups throughout the country have fed the entertainment industry's need for funny people. The Groundlings out of Los Angeles, Second City in Chicago, and many New York City groups have been around for 40 or 50 years. 

I loved "Who's Line"show and thrive on the idea of being funny in a "make it up as you go" manner. A lot of times that's the way I make people laugh just by spontaneously cracking jokes based on the place or situation that's happening at the time. 

For a long time I have longed for the opportunity to join an improve group and try it myself. A year or two ago I found the "Happy Gas" group's website online. But I had not been able to get to where they were performing. 

Last week on a midday local new show I saw a performance by Happy Gas. They were on the show to publicize their upcoming performance in a local theater. That's the show I went to see tonight. 

It was held at the Phoenix Theater, a small venue, on Chestnut Street in Bowling Green. I've seen a couple of plays there before. 

The performance was a lot of fun. The group "played" about  half a dozen improv games that I had not seen played before. But they were all well within the realm of improv I was familiar with. 

I enjoyed watching the show but the entire time I was wishing I was up there with them. I even thought of some great lines that the performers could have used.

The best one I came up with was that a young man playing the part of a talking squid in a sketch could have introduced himself to the other character as "Cal Lamari." ("calamari" is the name used in restaurants for cooked squid)

Once the show was over I wanted to stay around and talk to the kids in the group but I didn't feel very comfortable about doing it. Nothing anyone did or said made me feel that way. I just have a tendency to feel very awkward and out of place in certain social situations. This was one of them. 

I came home and made a comment on the Happy Gas Facebook page about how much I enjoyed the show and that I wish I could be part of a group like theirs. 

So I have now attended my first Happy Gas show. They have another one coming up on March 22. It's a show to celebrate the troupe's 15th anniversary. I just might go to that one and look for another opportunity to talk with those who get to do something I'd love to try at least once.