By Ellen Garnett
Staff Writer
One card game, seven improvisers, and an audience with an abnormally dirty imagination set the stage for last Saturday’s Improv Asylum “Cards Against Humanity” themed comedy show, a night full of sexual innuendos and politically incorrect jokes.
Improv Asylum’s “The Show Against Humanity” is a one-hour show and typically only open to those 21 years old or older, due to the presence of alcohol. However, the comedy club opened its doors to Simmons students thanks to its coordination with the Simmons Campus Activity Board.
“The Show Against Humanity” was a large Cards Against Humanity game that the improvisers played with the audience. Improvisers would allow random members of the audience to choose large versions of the black fill-in-the-blank cards to set the framework for their next skit. They would then hand out large versions of the white cards to audience members for them to choose the best answers to the black card.
One of the black cards that was picked read, “When I die, the one thing that must be at my funeral is________.” The most-liked answer to this fill-in-blank was “a douche with a guitar.” The author of this article couldn’t help but yell out, “Jason Mraz!” which made one improviser giggle.
This skit, in particular, was probably the cleanest out of all of those performed. It consisted of a guy sitting in the corner of a funeral home with his legs crossed, trying to tune and play his guitar while being asked repeatedly by the funeral home director to leave.
What made it so funny was that the guy really did not know how to play guitar but also that there was one improviser that just stood still with his mouth slightly open for the majority of the skit. The audience was slightly under the impression that he was the deceased until another improviser came on stage to ask how much the funeral director wanted for the sex statue. This improviser expressed his desire for the statue to do things such as “hold his junk.”
“The Show Against Humanity” was really fun because of how engaged the audience was in the act. The concept of the show as a game and its small, black box theatre contributed to an intimate sense of involvement. Brief music interludes between skits pumped up the audience as they jammed out to their favorite throwback songs.
Improv Asylum includes shows at night during the week but also weekend shows. Weeknight shows include “Standuprov,” “Main Stage Show,” “The BoobyTrap,” “House Teams,” and “Vanity Project.” All of the weeknight shows are just as funny as the weekend shows, which include “The Show Against Humanity,” “Afternoon Delight,” “Raunch,” and “The Sunday Night Show.”
There was never a dull moment at the Improv Asylum and it truly was “the funniest show [I have] ever been a part of,” to quote their slogan. To learn more about their comedy, visit http://www.improvasylum.com/.
