2008 here we come!

Hey, Improv Comedy fans. I wanted to let you know that the next DC Improvisational Open Mic Night has been scheduled for Thursday January 10th, 2008 in The DC Improv Comedy Lounge. Let's kick start the New Year right and make some s*** up!

Hope Santa brings you everything you want and more.

See you in the Lounge...

Love Letters and Improv 11/29/07

So last night I hosted another DC Improvisational Open Mic Night in our comedy lounge. Even though I was feeling under the weather and my voice was half gone I managed to get through the 2 hour show. I have NO VOICE today though...but I revel in the fact that everyone had a blast last night so it's worth it in the end, right? To start the show I decided to read excerpts of old love letters I found from my 1st boyfriend (over 10 years ago). Apparently I thought druggies and weirdos were hot. These letters not only included odd comments intertwined with graphic sexual content, there were some hilarious hand drawn pictures to parade to the audience as well. Upon completion of my reading I had the whole group of approximately 45 people warm up by yelling out the name of their first boyfriend or girlfriend. Following that I had them yell out what they'd like to say to them now. Good times.

Then came the antics of random people doing random short form Improv interspersed with 2 troupes performing. The audience consisted of some regulars and also a lot of new faces which was nice...I may have scared them off from my love letters though. I hope they'll be back. Participating troupes were 5-6-7-8 and Sexual Chocolate. Both performed styles of long form improv and both did a great job.

Of course we ended the event with the lightening round of Scenes From A Hat. That seems to be my signature ending for the these events.

I'm proud to say that I started this venture Dec of 2006 so am coming up on my year anniversary of this forum. In honor of the year anniversary, I am taking December off but will be back with a vengeance in January 2008. Be on the the look out for an updated announcement of when the show will be scheduled.

In the meantime I hope Santa treats you well and Hanukkah Harry gets you everything you wanted.

Giggles and Improv...

October and Improv are meant to be

Last Thursday on October 18th, I hosted another DC Improvisational Open Mic Night and it was another huge success. With a packed house of 60 people and some new ideas in my head the show started off strong. Two troupes entered the showcase; 700 Clubbing and Loser Josh. Both performed for 10 minutes and showcased long form improv to the masses. My job was to run the short form portion of the show. I decided to play some of the usual games and also put in some new gems that I found on the mighty Internet. The show was running strong until I got called out to take care of a crisis in the main showroom. Every once in awhile I get a slap back into reality and that was a total bitch slap. Bart Voision ended up running the remainder of the show including the lightning round of scenes from a hat. Aside from the main room crisis, it was a fun night had by all.
Mark your calendars for Thursday November 29th, 2007 for the next round of DC IMPROVISATIONAL OPEN MIC NIGHT. Sign-up from 7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Show is at 8:00 p.m. You can improv off that turkey dinner.

Football? Man funk that....

Yea, so I didn't think this through and planned the last Improvisational Open Mic night on opening night of Football Season (September 6th, 2007). At about 4:00 p.m. I realized what I had done and figured we would have a very light attendance, but to my surprise we had a great full crowd. Take that The NFL...you can't keep us improv-ers down! So we probably had about 40 people in the crowd including a whole crew of newbies. 3 groups participated; LOSER JOSH, SUCH AS and WIDESTANCE. All were given 10 minutes to perform and split between short form games. Allyson (me) hosted again and still am struggling with the descriptions of the games to the audience but I had some awesome Zingers (sometimes I do things for myself). All in all it was a successful night and I'm looking forward to the next one. Mark your calendars for Thursday October 18th, 2007 in The DC Improv Comedy Lounge. Sign-up is from 7-7:30 p.m. and the show will start promptly at 8:05 p.m.

See you then!

July 25th 2007, a day to remember...

I tried to post this last week but Blogger thought I was a spam blog and denied me access. Luckily, after a grueling test, I passed it with flying colors and can update this now. I'm pretty sure no one really even reads this but hey, I am the type of person who won't give up so gosh darn it I'm writing the blog. So in brief the last open mic was a HUGE success with standing room only. I opened with a busted microphone (that eventually I was able to fix) and a cheesy Mr. T joke to get people in the mood and focused for the event. There were 4 troupes that performed that night. LOSER JOSH, MR. PETERSON'S THUMBS, NEXT WEDNESDAY and 5-6-7-8. The show itself lasted about 1 hr 45 minutes with a mixture of short form random improving and the troupes. I ended once again with the lightening round of scenes from a hat. Good times were had by all. We even had some free cookies courtesy of one of the students who celebrated his 50th Birthday that evening. So far this venture has been a successful one. Be sure to check out the next event which will be on Thursday September 6th, 2007 in The DC Improv Comedy Lounge. Sign-up is 7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. and the show is at 8:00 p.m. I'm taking August off but plan on returning with a vengeance in September. I don't even know what that meant. See you then!!

Yes and June...

Last night on June 14th, 2007 I hosted another DC Improvisational Open Mic night on our Comedy Lounge. I'm happy to say that it was another successful venture with a crowd of roughly 45 people including our most current Harold Long Form Class representing before their graduation show tomorrow. The audience got to experience some random short form games, a stand-up joke or two from Allyson Jaffe, 2 Harold Long Form sketches and the improv comedy stylings of the troupe 5-6-7-8.

Since I'm always thinking and searching for a new way to keep an audience entertained, we ended the evening with a lightning round consisting of 2 lines of people rotating in and out of a 2 person scene playing the game "Lines From A Hat". HILARIOUSNESS for sure.

Thanks to all who came out last night and I hope to see you at the next open mic.

Mark your calendars for Wednesday July 25th in The DC Improv Comedy Lounge.
Sign-up is from 7-7:30 p.m. and the show is at 8:00 p.m.

See you in July!!!

Back in Mauve...

Hey all, so we hosted another DC Improvisational Open Mic night on Sunday May 6th, 2007 in The DC Improv Comedy Lounge (which is Mauve hence the title of this blog). With fans blowing to keep the crowd cool we intertwined single improving and troupe performances for a 90 minute show. Three Troupes participated including regular open mic attendees LOSER JOSH and NEXT WEDNESDAY plus a new addition called 5-6-7-8. Starting with some single improving, the host (Allyson) was able to kindly force some voyeurs at the show to participate in an Improv Game. All and all, laughs were had even though the crowd was on the lighter side. Every person who signed up had a chance to play on stage and we ended the event with a game of Questionable Wrestling amongst 16 people (8 per team). If you couldn't make this Improv Open Mic, be sure to come and check out the next one that will be held on Thursday June 14th, 2007 again in The DC Improv Comedy Lounge. Sign-Up is from 7 - 7:30 p.m. and the show will begin at 8:00 p.m. I'll be gentle...I promise.

To Go Big or To Stay Small...

I hosted another DC Improvisational Open Mic Night on Tuesday March 27th here at The DC Improv. This time we opened our main showroom up on an off night. With an audience of about 100 people (including my mom all the way from NYC) we laughed the night away. This show was structured just about the same where the first half was single improv artists, the second half featured 7 Troupes/Groups and the last 10 minutes was the lightening round featuring the game Questionable Wrestling. Fun was had by all.

This show featured troupes built out of The DC Improv Comedy School and also ComedySportz. Including performances from: NEXT WEDNESDAY, MISSING FINGERS, LOSER JOSH, BUBBA & SQUIRREL, 4 MEN AND AN ASIAN, OUTERLOOP and STEEL RHINOCERES.

The next open mic will be held in the DC Improv Comedy Lounge on Sunday May 6th, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. Sign-up is from 7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Come get your Improv on.

The Ides of Improv...

March, 14th 2007 The DC Improv Comedy Lounge hosted another Improv Open Mic Night. This was a special show celebrating the departure of Bryant Collins and the newly single Allyson Jaffe. Jokes flew out about failed marriages and moving to Nebraska...ahh the memories.
We had about 40 people in attendance and everyone who signed up to be a single performer had the opportunity to play. 2 people who just "heard about the event" and who weren't students of our comedy school also joined in the fun. Once again Allyson Jaffe hosted the show and did her best to explain the games.
Four Groups/Troupes participated last night including: LOSER JOSH, NEXT WEDNESDAY, SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE and BUBBA & SQUIRREL. Combining Long Form and Short Form games, each troupe strutted their stuff and all FOUR are invited back to participate in the next Improv Comedy Open Mic Night on March 27th, in the main showroom of The DC Improv.

BOO WEATHER! New Dates for The Improv Open Mic:

As most of you know the last Improv Comedy Open Mic night was cancelled this past Sunday at The DC Improv. CURSE YOU MOTHER NATURE!

So, I decided to plot TWO MORE IMPROVISATIONAL OPEN MIC NIGHTS for you here at The DC Improv. My issue is that the main showroom is not available until the end of March and I hated having to wait so long before I can host this event and we can play up on stage. This has resulted in me hosting the event in our Comedy Lounge on:
Wednesday March 14th, 2007 at 8:00 p.m.
Sign-up is from 7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

I will also be hosting the event in our main showroom on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 as a replacement for this past Sunday night. Again, for me to host the event in the big room on a night I am not normally open I really need to generate a crowd eating & drinking so I don't lose a ton of money from hosting a free show and paying for my staff's time.

So long story short...come out and play on March 14th, 2007 and play on March 27th at The DC Improv. Spread the word!!

No Booze but we still had fun...

So last night some Improv Open Mic'ers ventured over to The Comedy Spot for our 3rd installment of the Improvisational Comedy Open Mic Night. Despite the traffic and the cold weather and the lack of alcohol, we managed to get an audience of about 40 people and a bunch of performers. Once again hosted by me, Allyson Jaffe wearing the mighty whistle and with 3 pitchers by my side I managed to get a few laughs to loosen up the crowd and start the show. Also I had some help from my friend Joe Randazzo to explain the games when I just couldn't get the words out, so thank you Joe.

Every single Improv'er who showed had the chance to get on stage twice. The highlight game of the event was the alphabet game to which sadly many many improvisers struggled to remember their ABC's. In addition for some reason Judaism and religion were a theme throughout the night.

Two groups/troupes entered that portion of the event: LOSER JOSH and BOOTY CAMPERS 2006 had the crowd in stitches each getting 10 minutes of stage time to strut their stuff. Both troupes are invited back with a guaranteed performance slot on the next Improv Open Mic night to be hosted here at The DC Improv on our main stage Feb 25th, 2007. Remember that date as it will come up quickly. Sign-up for that show is from 7-7:30 p.m. and the show will start at 8:00 p.m. See you at The DC Improv on 2/25/07!!

Round Two!

Gitty Up! The second ever Improvisational Comedy Open Mic Night took place at The DC Improv Comedy Club on January 14th, 2007 and once again it was a huge success. With a standing room only crowd of about 80 people in the room (15 plus people were turned away), we got our Improvisation on. Hosted once again by Allyson Jaffe (the queen of not knowing how to explain games well, but looks cute with a whistle) we had 8 troupes/groups enter and about 25 singles drop their names into the mix. I decided to run this one a little different and rather than pulling 5 troupes, I allowed all 8 to get their chance on stage. The first half hour featured single performers playing short form Improv Games...some faces were recognized from an article featured in The Washington Post Weekend section; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/11/AR2007011100711.html?sub=AR Cool huh?

The second half of the show featured the following Improv Troupes strutting their stuff; including reigning champion from the fist open mic LOSER JOSH plus THUNDER HAMSTER, SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE, NEXT WEDNESDAY, DEATH TO DUCKS, LAST MINUTE SIGNUP, JACKIE NOVAK PLAYERS and 2 GUYS AND A GIRL.
After a tough voting process, the audience decided that LOSER JOSH will move on to the next open mic and have a guaranteed performance spot at The Comedy Spot on January 31st, 2007.

I realized after this night that I have created a monster so have decided to host The next Improvisational Open Mic Night in the main showroom of The DC Improv Comedy Club for a trial run so we don't have to turn anyone away again. So mark your calendars for SUNDAY FEBRUARY 25th, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. at The DC Improv. Whether you are a single improv artist or a group of friends interested in getting your improv grove on, this is an awesome outlet to showcase your talent. Oh yeah and did I mention that is was COMPLETELY FREE to the patrons?

Thanks to everyone who came out and showed support for this venture...it's only the beginning. Bare with me while I work out the kinks.

See you at the next one.