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.

About Last Night...

So Dec 20th, 2006 was the first ever Improvisational Comedy Open Mic Night held at The DC Improv Comedy Club in our brand new lounge. It was a HUGE SUCCESS!! Trained Improv Artists from The DC Improv Comedy School, ComedySportz, WIT plus several people who just happened to show up and wanted to give Improv Comedy a try were in attendance.

There were over 50 people there which is a max capacity for our new room. Since it is an impromptu show and the first of it's kind, I had no idea what to expect from it. A reporter from The Washington Post came out with a photographer to review the extravaganza.

5 Groups/Troupes signed up to take part in the group section. Participating groups were: NEXT WEDNESDAY, DEATH BY DUCKS, BRIGHT THINGS, LOSER JOSH and SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE. In addition to the Groups/Troupes at least 25 Single Improv-er's dropped their names in the bucket to play some short form Improv games. For the first night everyone who entered the bucket got a chance on stage. I (Allyson Jaffe) hosted the show last night, despite the fact that I have never taken a class in Improv Comedy before (I guess that's the irony of improv, you make it up as you go). Random names and random games were pulled and everyone had a blast. Check out the first blog to see the format of the event. The show lasted about 2 hours....

Crowned winner last night for the Groups/Troupes portion is Loser Josh consisting of the following performing members: Colleen, Paul, Elisa, Alexis, Peter, Clay and Stephanie. Loser Josh will go on to defend their honor at the next DC Improvisational Comedy Open Mic Night at The DC Improv on Sunday January 14th, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. Another one has already been scheduled at The Comedy Spot on Wednesday January 31st, 2007 at 8:00 p.m.

Be there...

The First Ever DC Improvisational Comedy Open Mic Night!!

WHAT IS IT?
The DC Improvisational Open Mic Night is open to all students of Improv; we encourage anyone with training in Improv to participate in this event. My ultimate goal is for all students who never get the chance to perform your skills in improv to now have the chance to do so, for FREE. The DC Improvisational Open Mic Night will be hosted twice a month; once at The DC Improv and once at The Comedy Spot.
The format of the show will be split into 2 parts:

• Half of the show is for IMPROV TEAMS/GROUPS and Half of the show is for SINGLE IMPROV'ERS.
• Everyone is welcome to perform however you will not know if you are performing as it is all done randomly that evening. From 7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. there is a sign-up for the evening. There will be 3 hats on location (One for Single Improvers; One for Improv Teams, One with various Short Form Improv Games). You will either drop your group name or solo name or both into the hats if you are interested in performing.
• The first portion will consist of the host pulling out of the hat one of the short form games, and then the appropriate number of students needed to play that game from the single players hat.
• The host that evening will pick 5 Team names out of the hat to perform. Each team will do 8 minutes of either short or long form Improv (it is solely your group's decision). At the end of the team segment the audience will vote on the teams and one team will return to defend the title the next time we host The IMPROV COMEDY OPEN MIC NIGHT.