What do you say to a Llama that loves picnicking? Alpaca lunch. The ComedySportz team had their first match of the year Thursday 19 September in the theatre black box. The intra-squad match was filled with interesting scenes and wholehearted laughter at the players’ goofy mistakes.
This year, there are 19 people on the team—a bigger number than past years. Juniors Carmen and Theresa Gordo-Martin were excited to support their friend Ella Krasiner who just joined the team this year.
“It’s going to be interesting at times, like you’re gonna see things that you probably would never see somewhere else,” Theresa said.
Prior to the match, the ComedySportz team had two rehearsals to teach new members the games, as well as refresh returning members’ memories.
“I do like … scene work where … you get to build a character as opposed to just being fast because personally fast is not my strength and I tend to mess up a lot,” junior Krasiner said. “I feel like that’s really fun and creative.”
These rehearsals also serve to refresh returning members’ memories.
“I really like games like ‘cut to’ where it’s a scene game, and then there’s a weird gimmick because it allows a lot more creativity and freedom with what you can do,” senior and returning member George Johannson said. “But … if you do get stuck, the [referee] can say, ‘oh, cut to this’ and keep the scene from … being boring.”
ComedySportz is made up of players, including two team captains: one junior (Varvara Fomicheva), and one senior (Rebecca O’Rear). The senior captain is in charge of choosing the games, who will play at each match, and coordinates with other ComedySportz teams at away matches, and the junior captain is there to support as well.
“I’ve learned so much, like how to do improv, how to set up a [good] scene, [etc…] because so much of improv is watching other people doing improv,” O’Rear said.
Similarly, Fomicheva is excited to start off with the intra-squad match.
“I think it’s a good learning experience because you go out there and if you’ve never been in ComedySportz, you try what you’ve never done before, and if you make a fool of yourself, that’s fine,” Fomicheva said.
There are also two managers: one junior (Grace Ayoub) and one senior (Gianna Smith). Managers are in charge of running the show (known as the ‘Voice’), making transitions between games smooth with the help of lights and music.
“My co-manager, Grace, is in charge of running the lights during the show while I am in charge of running sound,” Smith said. “[Being the ‘Voice’] means that I am the one announcing the scores and responsible for keeping track of them.”
Like the team captains, stage managers’ roles are beyond what they really are.
“Even when you’re just the ‘Voice,’ you have to have a lot of energy to be able to convey the match—to be able to carry on from just announcing them—so that you can transition that energy into the players,” Ayoub said.
Returning members are full of memories of funny moments, scenes, and character choices.
“One of my favorite ones was last year during the faculty match,” junior and returning member Gabriel Bouleau said. “I think George was enacting a dog, but then at the end he revealed that it was a mask and so he did this huge gesture of taking off the dog mask.”
With ComedySportz, there will inevitably be mistakes.
“You’re going to look weird but so is everyone else, and so you are all going to look weird together,” Johannson said. “If you doubt it, then you’re gonna look even weirder—so just commit to looking weird.”
Like any fine arts department commitments, ComedySportz can take up some space in students’ schedules, especially when they already have theatre rehearsals throughout the week.
“I’m a crew head so I can’t exactly leave early,” Ayoub said. “Mostly it’s just me taking it out, having to bring extra snacks if I want to stake out for an extra 30 minutes, but thank God they provide food for actual matches.”
As members of ComedySportz, all members have to sell a minimum of 5 tickets in order to increase their chances of playing at a match.
“Family is always a great option, [and] close friends who aren’t necessarily surrounded by theater all the time [in order] to bring in new people,” Bouleau said. “And just saying that if you get tickets through ComedySportz players it’s cheaper than getting it at the [door].”
There were a wide range of characters, from John (junior Kylie Grimmett) who broke up with Taylor Swift, the Geek Squad (seniors Nathan Boylan and Evan Mauzy), and Deborah the Mayonnaise Monster, amongst many others.
“My favorite game was ‘advice panel’ because it was so silly and the audience had some crazy suggestions,” freshman Matilda Nava Perez said.
“My favorite moment was when George died—when the character Deborah was reborn,” senior and new member of ComedySportz Rozhin Shavandi said.
For many of the members, it was their first time playing at a match in front of people.
“I tell them ‘look at your notes’ and actually apply those notes,” O’Rear said. “If you don’t get it the first time, that’s fine. You’ll have more matches. Try again.”
The next ComedySportz match is the faculty match—teachers/staff that players choose—17 October in the PAC at 7pm.
“Come see a ComedySportz match [whenever] you can,” Fomicheva said. “They’re really fun, they’re really cheap, and usually [you] turn your brain off and you just enjoy it. We’re really loud, but we’re so kind.”
