The university’s improvisational comedy group, the Fat Tuesday Debutantes, performed their first show of the semester, “LOL–Love Out Loud” on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
The show consisted of several different improvised sketches that followed a certain structure and rules, almost like a game.
The first sketch is a classic in the improv comedy world. “Physical Freeze” is an exercise where two people start a scene in the center of the stage while the rest of the group stands behind them. At any point in the scene, another performer can yell “freeze,” and both performers in the middle will have to stop acting.
Not only do they have to stop talking, but they have to remain in whatever position they are currently in. The performer who yelled freeze can now tap on either performer, and they have to take the exact position that that previous performer was in. From there, they will have to start a completely new scene based on what it looks like is happening on stage.
“Physical Freeze” was entertaining to watch and quite comedic. It also showcased the talent and creativity of the group right off the bat. The Debutantes took the scenes in directions that could never be expected.
The next segment was called “Newscaster.” Improv comedy is known for its often reliance on audience participation, and “Newscaster” was the first segment of the night to do that.
The sketch takes the form of the news and has a main anchor, who was played by Parker Wilkinson. There is a co-anchor, a weatherman and a sportscaster who all have some sort of “quirk” to them.
This is where the audience comes in.
The quirks for the co-anchor, played by Ella Willett; the weatherman, played by Jonah Dean; and the sportscaster, played by Sam Walkenspaw, were all chosen by the audience. Willett’s quirk was that she randomly switched into speaking gibberish, Dean’s quirk was that he repeatedly said “allegedly” and Walkenspaw’s quirk was that he knew absolutely nothing about sports.
The results were amusing, and Dean’s repeated use of “allegedly” was by far the funniest.
The best moment of the night was a sketch that involved all of the Fat Tuesday Debutantes. The skit was titled “Confessions,” and was a different take of another improv activity called “Taxi Cab.”
In “Confessions,” a priest, played by Wilkinson, has to listen to the confessions of every other group member, who are acting as famous celebrities or characters from movies, TV, books, etc. The priest has to converse with the characters until he learns who the character is and ends the scene by saying, “I forgive you of your sins, ___.”
Wilkinson was usually able to guess the characters quickly, but some took an extended amount of time.
The funniest moment out of all of the sketches was when it was Walkenspaw’s turn to confess. He chose to play Charles Manson and was extremely committed to the bit. He made several references to real-life events and even “Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood,” a film that’s plot revolves around the Manson family’s murder of Sharon Tate; however, it must have taken Wilkinson over ten minutes to guess who Walkenspaw was portraying.
The prolonged scene got many laughs from the audience.
“LOL–Love Out Loud” was a highly entertaining show, and it is exciting that a group like this exists on campus.
To be updated on future performances, students can view the Capital University Theatre Engage page here.
